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Ponderable Zoological Names

An open list of 1011 words by hernesheir.

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About

Wordplay and humor abound in the names and naming of organisms. I believe this sort of play is a distinctly human quality.

Herein I list playful names of organisms that inspire delight, provoke a smile, or are just fun to say. I begin this list with Bambiraptor and Godzillius, as a nod to Marv Newman's classic 1969 cartoon Bambi Meets Godzilla. One wonders if Bambiraptor the dinosaur could have stood up to or escaped from Godzilla the daikaijū. The bulk of the most playful and humorous names appear at the start of this list. You'll have to page back to view those, but the chuckle or head scratching once you get there is worth the time in navigating there.

The majority of the (now over 900) names are are listed simply because they contain all the vowels, once or (rarely) twice; are palindromic, monovocalic or both; or in the case of leucocytozoan, typed with alternating hands on the qwerty keyboard.

Be sure and check the comments for this list, wherein I list and comment on groups of scientific names notable for their peculiar relationships - like following a naming theme: i.e. anagrams of each other, or a cluster of Native American tribes among species names within a genus or family.

I've sort of listed plant names of this ilk at Ponderable Plant Names.

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  • hernesheir The moth genus Ptilurodes contains 2 species: P. castor and P. pollux. Aug 25, 2010

  • hernesheir The monovocalic moth genus Abraxas currently contains 9 monovocalic species. Genus-species binomials listed here include 5, 6, and 7 copies of the letter "a". Aug 17, 2010

  • hernesheir The mayfly genera (family Caenidae) Cercobrachys and Sparbarus contain species named after American Indian tribes or dwelling places: cree, etowah, fox, pomeiok, and winnebago; and choctaw, coushatta, and miccosukee, respectively, and the genus Susperatus contains a species named after a Texas tribe, S. tonkawa. Other species in other mayfly families include Apobaetis etowah, A. lakota, Camelobaetidius kickapoo, and Pseudocloeon apache. Aug 10, 2010

  • hernesheir An anagram name game amongst biolists: Lapyruta, Laurypta, Lutarpya, Lyprauta, Platyura, Plautyra, Pyratula, Pyratula, Pyrtaula, Ralytupa, Rutylapa, Rypatula, Taulyrpa, Truplaya, Tylparua, and Urytalpa are genera of the dipteran family Keroplatidae. The anagram game has spawned generic cousins in the family as well: Lutarpyella, Neoplatyura, Paleoplatyura, and Xenoplatyura. Aug 7, 2010

  • hernesheir Yaeprimus, Yaesecundus, Yaetertius, Yaequartus, and Yaequintus are genera of chironomid flies. Aug 6, 2010

  • ruzuzu Thank you for tagging the palindromes! Jul 2, 2010

  • reesetee Fantastic lists, h! I've favorited them for days when I need a good laugh. :-) Jun 27, 2010

  • hernesheir This list is open to anyone who wishes to contribute ponderable names of non-plant organisms. For plant names you wish to contribute, see my open list Ponderable Plant Names. Jun 27, 2010