From Aa to Zyzzyxdonta –

Taxonomy can be fun!!

Brian Goodwin

From Aa to Zyzzyxdonta

• The shortest allowable scientific name is one of 2 letters.

• Alphabetically, therefore, Aa – which is either a snail or an orchid – comes first.

• Immediately following it is Aaadonta, while one of the last names alphabetically is Zyzzyxdonta, another endodontoid snail.

• Zyzzyxdonta has characters the extreme opposite of Aaadonta!

An early interest

in animals

• First pair of binoculars

• Discover birds!

The scientific name for genera in the Thrush family is

Turdus!!!

Abra cadabra

became

Theora cadabra

which became

Theora

mesopotamica

cadabra Agra

Agra vate

Agra vation

Agra phobia

•Celebrities

•Puns

Charles

Darwin

David Attenborough

Agra beegees

Agra

katewinsletae

Agra

schwarzeneggeri

Anomphalus jaggerius

Jaggermeryx

Scaptia beyonceae

A genus of ferns called Gaga

Manfred Parth, a German conchologist, named two

new species of Bursidae after his two children –

Cristina and Luca

Bufonaria cristinae Bursa lucaensis

Bursa

borisbeckeri

I dedicate the new

species to Boris

Becker, in my view

the greatest

individual athlete of

all time.

Paronomasia, is a form of word

play that suggests two or more

meanings, by exploiting multiple

meanings of words, or of similar-

sounding words, for an intended

humorous or rhetorical effect.

Puns Paronomasia, is a form of word

play that suggests two or more

meanings, by exploiting multiple

meanings of words, or of similar-

sounding words, for an intended

humorous or rhetorical effect.

Apophyllus now

Eubetia bigaulae

You betcha, by golly!

In 2002 Neal Evanhuis described 11 new species of small, brown furry flies. He called the genus Pieza

Pieza species

• Pieza rhea

• Pieza pi

• Pieza kake

• Pieza deresistans

Vampyroteuthis infernalis translates as:

“Vampire squid from hell”

Nilgai or Blue Bull In 1766 Peter Simon Pallas described Antilope tragocamelus.

In 1816 de Blainville added some bovid genera and it became

Boselaphus tragocamelus.

Boselaphus tragocamelus

translates as:

“Ox-deer -goat-camel”

Sea slug –

Phyllidia polkadotsa

The

End