What's in a (species) name?

Meet Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini, a newly identified species of fish, named after Led Zeppelin. Why? An Auburn University graduate student thought the fish's pectoral fin looked like Jimmy Page's double neck guitar.

It's a quirky way to name a species, but Lepidocephalichthys zeppelini is certainly not the most flippant or goofy Latin name to come along. There are fungus beetles known as Gelae belae and Gelae donut. Adonnadonna primadonna is an extinct fossil algae named for a 1963 pop song by Dion and The Belmonts. And Volva volva volva probably gives you some clue as to how insistent Linnaeus was that a certain sea snail had a shell shaped like a part of a lady's anatomy.

Institutions have even auctioned off naming rights to the highest bidder, using the funds to pay for conservation efforts and further research. That's how we ended up with a monkey named after the Golden Palace online casino.

Has science no shame? Are there no rules to this naming system? Quite the contrary. There is, in fact, an entire book of binding codes and an international organization to enforce them. But here's the thing—those rules are mostly related to working out who gets naming rights, and making sure that everybody is using a standard style. At the same time, there are lots and lots of species that need unique names. Thus, a certain level of creative silliness gets through. That said, there are limits. Really obvious jokes are frowned upon these days. As are rude gestures. Back in the day, Linnaeus used species names to construct elaborate insults against his enemies (and, presumably, the species being named). You can't do that anymore. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature will also send you back to the drawing board if your proposed name is deemed too unpronounceable.

Thanks to cantaconbravura for Submitterating!

• [Anonymous]

  And Volva volva volva probably gives you some clue as to how insistent Linnaeus was that a certain sea snail had a shell shaped like a part of a lady’s anatomy.

  Alright, that shit was funny.

• [Columboss]

  There are so many species of marine protozoa that taxonomists sometimes get desperate for names. For example, there’s the genus ‘Cafeteria’ and legend has it that one is called ‘Mass hysteria’…

• [Joseph Hertzlinger]

  I thought Volva volva volva was named after Swedish automobiles…

• [VICTOR JIMENEZ]

  Shame? It is SCIENCE b*ches!

• [Anonymous]

  Reichenbach created the genus Aa specifically so it would always sort at the top of alphabetical listings of plants.

  Unfortunately it’s a boring terrestrial orchid that grows insanely high in the Andes.

• [Anonymous]

  Of course, zoologists are not the best at naming. In particular the use of tautonyms is annoying to me: Gorilla gorilla, Tyrranus tyrannus, and all the rest. Rather like if you asked me what vehicle I drive, and I replied “Ford Ford.”

  Good Latin names not only follow grammatical rules, they can be beautiful. Or honor a really worthy scientist. Why not make the most of such a wonderful opportunity?

  • [Anonymous]

    In particular the use of tautonyms is annoying to me: Gorilla gorilla, Tyrranus tyrannus, and all the rest.

    That’s usually caused by an overly broad historical taxon being made to fit a modern taxonomy.

    For instance, suppose you are some 17th century wealthy drone with a passion for a certain type of beetle. You collect a bunch of them and name this beetle after your girlfriend, Ludmigzilla. Hundreds of years later, somebody does a DNA analysis on all the syntypes of ludmigzilla and finds out they are not the same bug! In fact ludmigzilla is a genus, not a species, but oh noes the genus slot is already filled.

    So there’s an international dust-up, entomologists and wet chemists and DNA pseudo-scientists get into fistfights in the corridors, and when it all settles there’s now a new family or sub-family, and the original species is now ludmigzilla ludmigzilla, and the other former syntypes are promoted to holotypes of ludmigzilla backhair, ludmigzilla chestpair, and ludmigzilla dunher.

    Seriously, that’s how it works.

  • [Anonymous]

    I dunno, I kind of like being able to know the type species at a glance.

• [rourin_bushi]

  Wait, so there’s rules forbidding names that are too “unpronounceable”, yet “Lepidocephalichthys” was ok?
  Maybe a bad example, as even I can work that one out in short order, but it still seems like this reg is likely not enforced with any objective standard.

• [Symbiote]

  Personally, I’m a fan of the Amorphophallus titanum — that is, giant misshapen penis plant.

  One of my botany student friends was studying a cactus whose name meant “many-nippled breast”, unfortunately I can’t remember the scientific name. The name was a good description though :-)

• [Mitch_M]

  Well, it’s a good thing it wasn’t a new species of red snapper.

• [Anonymous]

  Symbiote, that would be Mammillaria:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammillaria

• [d913]

  I saw this last year:

  http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/4323547

  My favorites are the slime-mold beetles named after Buch, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Darth Vader.

• [Anonymous]

  Please don’t forget there are organisms which don’t fall under the Zoological Code: plants. (Ahem, the algae Adonnadonna primadonna is not an animal in any way, shape or form.) Botanical systematists are a more tightly controlled bunch, they actually get together every 5 years to deal with issues with the Code of Botanical Nomenclature, zoologists are a little more lax about dealing with problems that crop up. Botanists don’t tolerate as much silliness, Adonnadonna primadonna to the contrary, and names tend toward the descriptive, geographic, or after folks you know (frequently as a personal thank you).

  My favorite insect name: Aha ha.

  And if you do a quick image search, you’ll see Amorphophallus is quite descriptive.

  • [Jonathan Badger]

    There’s also a separate Bacteriological Code and one for viruses as well.