Most humorous scientific names

[Azhael]

There is a thread in a spanish forum about unusual or hilarious scientific names which i´m enjoying a lot but obviously most of what we find funny in spanish is basically worthless here xD
So, ok, i realize the potential for hilarity is different in english, but i´m really curious about trying this out here, hehe.

Oh, also, a warning for everybody. This is likely to turn into a massive phallic joke.


I´ll start with a few

Tyrannasorus rex (a beetle from the miocene)
Carmenelectra shechisme (a fossil insect)
Enema pan (rhinoceros beetle)
Phallus impudicus (the common stinkhorn fungus)
Strategus mormon (beetle)
Ajaja ajaja (a bird, sometimes Platalea ajaja)

And a couple that are beyond funny in spanish and some of you may apreciate:

Pachydactylus caraculicus , "caraculicus" meaning "buttface".
Abra cadabra the spanish for "hocus pocus".

 

[Kaysie]

I've always liked the American Plains bison: Bison bison bison

And I never understood why the redbelly snake, Storeria occipitomaculata, is named after an obscure marking consisting of three faint white dots on the back of the head instead of the obvious bright red belly.

Also, Andrias means 'man-image'. I suppose they do look a bit like short, stocky, warty old men.

 

[Niels D]

Abra cadabra the spanish for "hocus pocus".

We're also saying abra cadabra. Funny, because Spanish and Dutch are totally different. I used to laugh, when I heard homo erectus, but that's because I never had a good sense of humor.

 

[Jake]

There is a moth genus, "La", and two of the species are "cerveza" and "cucaracha". There is also a beetle called "Colon rectum".

Hynobius retardatus always makes me smile too.

 

[Azhael]

xDDDDD I had to look it up. I can´t believe it, definitely the best ones i ever heard. There´s a third species in the genus, La paloma...all of them priceless xD

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I suspect you all will enjoy this:

Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature

I will not post my favorites here, as they are not for polite company...

 

[Molch]

I always thought "Homo sapiens" is pretty funny, considering we're the stupidest species on the planet.

 

[Molch]

"Ittibittium Houbrick, 1993 (mollusc) These are smaller than molluscs of the genus Bittium."

 

[Azhael]

Johnny, i love you.

 

[Molch]

Oedipus complex Dunn, 1924 (lungless salamander) Since renamed Oedipina complex.

 

[Jesper]

And I love you Rodrigo for starting this thread:happy: Great stuff, made my day

 

[Molch]

I see us nerds are gonna have fun with this all day

 

[Molch]

I think I found one of Johnny's favorites:

"Botryotinia ****eliana (de Bary) Whetzel, (1945) (plant pathogen fungus) and Didymella ****eliana (Pass.) Sacc. (1882) (another); both named after Karl Wilhelm Gottlieb Leopold ****el."

"Eremobates inyoanus Muma and Brookhart, 1988 (solpugid) Inyo is the county where it was first found."

and, in the same spirit:
Ichtyosaura apuanus

 

[JacksonR]

Species of gecko= leachianus

I always thought that was funny. :rofl:

 

[Jesper]

Btw abra cadabra is neither spanish nor dutch, it is way older than that. I think it has its origin back in one of the northwest semitic languages groups such as phoenician, aramaic or hebrew etc. It is used in Sweden as well.... If you like etymology, languages are treasures full of such gems..

 

[Jesper]

Actually found some reasonable info on wiki

Abracadabra is an incantation used as a magic word in stage magic tricks, and historically was believed to have healing powers when inscribed on an amulet. The word is thought to have its origin in the Aramaic language, in which abra (אברא) means "to create" and cadabra (כדברא) which means "as I say", providing a translation of abracadabra as "create as I say", thus its use in magic.

The first known mention of the word was in the second century AD in a book called Liber Medicinalis (sometimes known as De Medicina Praecepta Saluberrima) by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who prescribed that malaria sufferers wear an amulet containing the word written in the form of a triangle.


Muhahaha is my contribution

 

[Niels D]

"Eremobates inyoanus Muma and Brookhart, 1988 (solpugid) Inyo is the county where it was first found."

and, in the same spirit:
Ichtyosaura apuanus

Hilarious!

 

[froggy]

One of my favourites is Aphrodite aculeata. It is a hairy marine polychaete, which is funny enough, considering it's name. More amusing is that the name derives from the fact that the underside is supposed to look like female genitalia!

Photos from http://www.seaslugforum.net/images/m20253d.jpg and http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jhW52aMy8UU/TIPmU0T7HWI/AAAAAAAAAk8/XW3MdsK4Z4c/s1600/AL0503_3380.JPG , respectively.

C

 

[Opacum]

What better to call a scorpion that is both colorful and dangerous then Hottentotta hottentotta? Cute thread, by the way.

 

[Azhael]

I had no idea that was the origin of the word, Jesper, very interesting. I knew the french used it but i ignored it was so widespread. To tell you the truth, i always thought that it was some old arabic incantation we had inherited during the occupation xD

I always liked binomials in which the generic and specific names are the same like Capreolus capreolus, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, etc. There are two that have to be the easiest things to remember in the planet and are always funny in spanish, Mola mola (sunfish) which could be translated as "It´s cool, It´s cool", and Pica pica the european magpie, which is also what we call itchy powder and certain candies.

Ah, we caught a couple of A.aculeata at a university trip once. It was one of the few animals that about half the people just refused to touch xD