The Art of Naming by Ohl Michael; Lauffer Elisabeth;

Author:Ohl, Michael; Lauffer, Elisabeth;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Names; taxonomy; nomenclature; Linnaeus; scientific names; Latin names; species; natural history; biodiversity; biology; zoology; systematics; etymology; eponyms; philosophy; linguistics; Darwin; evolution; paleontology; Othniel Marsh; Edward Drinker Cope; cryptozoology; natural history museum; natural history museums
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 2018-04-20T04:00:00+00:00

Naughty by Nomenclature

Sex is a popular topic, even in taxonomy, and since its beginnings no less. Linnaeus, whose system of flora was based on the similarities and differences between sexual organs, created a range of provocative names with direct or insinuated sexual meanings. Since then, erotic connotations have been a common part of scientific naming, whether it be to reflect features of genital structures—which are often significant to taxonomic determinations—or simply to weave in sexual innuendo. It isn’t easy to narrow down the examples in this category.

Let’s start with the snakeflies described by Ulrike and Horst Aspöck, the married couple profiled earlier with the Austrian dialect-infused names. In 1974, the pair described Phaeostigma mammaphila (literally, “breast-loving”). This name was chosen because one of these insects—while still an undiscovered species in Greece—landed on Ulrike Aspöck’s chest, where it was then also captured. The Aspöcks also described Ohmella libidinosa together, in which the specific epithet derives from the Latin adjective libidinosus—quite clearly, “libidinous” in English. This is a nod to “the noticeable male genital segments with endophallus frequently turned outward.” In the same genus three years earlier, they had described Ohmella casta, which derives from castus for “chaste” and refers to the especially small genitalia of the species’ male population. In reference to the monstrous male genitalia of the snakefly species Subilla priapella, by contrast, the Aspöcks were reminded of Priapos, the god of fertility, who is often depicted with an outsized phallus.

Things get a little raunchier in the family of round fungus beetles or Leiodidae. Beetle taxonomists Quentin Wheeler and Kelly Miller described a new species named Agathidium gallititillo in 2005. Translated literally, the specific epithet means “French tickle,” a certain sexual practice the reader may choose to research independently if curious. The name is in reference to a “long, ribbed section of the ventral part of the male genitalia.” Quentin Wheeler, who is well known outside the beetle scene as a systematic biologist and biodiversity researcher, admits that this is his favorite of all the names he has ever described.

Two Southeast Asian fish species in the carp family (Cyprinidae) have the names Probarbus labeamajor and Probarbus labeaminor, both described in 1992 by the ichthyologist Tyson Roberts. The medical names labia majora and minora (dropping the suffix –a in English usage) are common terms beyond medicine as well. There are actually differences in lip size between these two fish species, although it isn’t clear from the species descriptions whether the author had intended this obviously sexual connotation. However obvious it seems to be, it must ultimately remain unconfirmed. A side note regarding these names: in comparing the species names (labeamajor and labeaminor) and the anatomical labels (labia majora and minora), linguistic differences are revealed to suggest that the zoological names were not formulated correctly. At the least, the vowel “e” in the specific epithet is definitely wrong because the name is based on labium—Latin for “lip”—meaning the root for the first name component is labi–. The –a at the end of “labea” indicates the plural, which conflicts with the singular forms, major and minor.

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