#Binomial nomenclature

[hbmmaster]

in zoology, animal species are given standard "latin" names consisting of two words, the genus name and the species name. typically, the genus name is a noun, and the species name is an adjective. following the rules of latin grammar, adjectives need to agree with nouns with grammatical gender, so if the genus name is a feminine latin noun then all species of that genus are given (in principle) adjectives marked with feminine latin suffixes.

in practice of course, new genus names don't always use actual latin words, so these latin grammatical gender rules need to be grafted onto words that aren't really latin. and this is where one of the weirdest conventions of zoological binomial nomenclature comes in!

how exactly do you determine what the latin grammatical gender of a word is if it isn't a latin word? according to the ICZN, it's simple:

if the word is from greek, use its gender in greek

otherwise, if the word is from a modern european language with grammatical gender that uses the latin alphabet, use the gender in the source language (yes it is that specific)

otherwise, if the name ends with -a it's feminine

otherwise, if the name ends with -um, -u, or -o it's neuter

otherwise, it's masculine

unless of course if the zoologist with naming dibs says explicitly that they think this genus should have an irregular gender.

anyway these rules are fascinating to me. why are they this specific? grammatical gender systems compatible with latin's adjective suffixes are found throughout the entire indo-european language family, so why restrict it to modern european latin-script languages (and greek)? I don't know!

[probablyasocialecologist]

Ignatio Chapela, a forest pathologist at the University of California, Berkeley, was even more adamant that the idea of “species” limits the stories we can tell about kinds. “This binomial system of naming things is kind of quaint, but it is a complete artifact,” he told me. “You define things with two words and they become an archetypal species. In fungi, we have no idea what a species is. No idea. . . . A species is a group of organisms that potentially can exchange genetic material, have sex. That applies to organisms that reproduce sexually. So already in plants, where out of a clone you can have change as time goes by, you have problems with species. . . . You move out of vertebrates to the cnidarians, corals, and worms, and the exchange of DNA, and the way groups are made, are very different from us. . . . You go to fungi or bacteria, and the systems are completely different—completely crazy by our standards. A long-lived clone can all of a sudden go sexual: you can have hybridization in which whole big chunks of chromosomes are brought in; you have polyploidization or duplication of chromosomes, where a completely new thing comes out; you have symbiotization, the capture of, say, a bacterium that allows you to either use the whole bacterium as part of yourself or use parts of that bacterium’s DNA for your own genome. You’ve become something entirely different. Where do you break down the species?”

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins

[fru-fru-brigade]

The scientific name of the Common House Mouse, Mus musculus, translates pretty directly to English as "mousie mouse."

[chadots]

Today I learned that Linnaeus named foul-smelling plants after people he didn’t like, and those names…are still the ones we use.

[peachdoxie]

I'm not a biologist but my understanding of binomial nomenclature naming conventions is that they don't exist because people ran out of reasonable names 140 years ago.

[corin-tuckers-left-one]

Every time you capitalise the specific epithet of a binomial name a puppy dies

[teachersource]

Carl Linnaeus was born on May 23, 1707. A Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalized binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy". In botany and zoology, the abbreviation L. is used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for a species' name. In older publications, the abbreviation "Linn." is found. Linnaeus's remains constitute the type specimen for the species Homo sapiens following the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, since the sole specimen that he is known to have examined was himself.

[iicaptainblog]

Felis leche Felis pan

[pastel-pineappl-art]

Ok so I have been sooooo normal lately /j

I've actually been so silly, I have an original species that I've been messing around with since high school, with only one character that I've drawn of it up until now and I want to be able to make a little ref sheet for people to be able to make their own versions!!

The actual sheet isn't done yet but I thought I'd share the brainstorming I've made :) and I will also include a vote for the species name bc I am so lost there, more info will be under the cut this is gonna be long.

Felis aspid

(Feline family, aspid with ancient Greek roots meaning venemous)

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The example of the skeletal structure is my own boy, Chester. The skeleton is very feline-like closest to a domestic cat, the only difference being that extra pair of legs with the semi-fused shoulder blades.

Those upper legs, or "Pedipalps," have a lower range of movement than the front legs, making them useless for movement but very good for carrying things. Kits are carried by the scruff, but other items like some types of prey and supplies for building nests in the wild are carried using these legs. Domesticated ones may use them to carry around their toys if preferred.

These Pedipalps are also very powerful and useful for digging out dens in the wild. They will find a suitable area and dig a fully underground home for their pack, always living in groups of 3 or 4.

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These creatures have Antennae closest compared to a moth. The antennae are used for scenting the area as their sense of smell in the nose is not that strong, this combined with the "Jacobson's Organ" still gives them a pretty good idea of the smells in the area, though not in the same way a Feline or Canine may detect those smells.

The tip of the tail is made of the same kind of fur/feathering as the antennae, while thought that it coupe also be used for "scenting" it is mostly used as a sensory organ to keep better track of surroundings as they don't have a good sense of hearing. The different shapes also seem to be used for easier communication and signaling between their pack, family, or even strangers encountered nearby.

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The single eye in the center is very interesting. It is not the only eye they have. There are six more eyes placed in groups of three on either side of their large eye.

The center eye helps them see in much more detail, maybe being able to see or capture movement that would be lost to other species. While those other eyes help hone in on what they're hunting, making the creature more aware of their surroundings, usually these eyes are closed when the animal is relaxed as they have no need for it unless in a higher stress situation. This same behavior can be observed in those domesticated during play.

The eye is also interesting because it is a form of sexual dimorpism (while not always, is the case for 90% of the population). The males tend to form a much more interesting shape of pupil as they grow older, like a star or heart shape, that don't seem to naturally occur. While the females have more "boring" shapes that you may be able to find in other species of animal, like simple circles or squares. This has no effect on their sight.

The more interesting a pupil shape is to a female, the more interested she is in that male

Another fun fact about the eye is that Kits will have blue eyes for a few weeks after being born just like kittens do, they eventually grow into their adult color which, if you know what you are doing can be found out before that point. The color of the eye is completely dependent on the color of their blood and organs, like birds of paradise, this is their dash of color to attract mates.

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Their hunting style is very comparable to a regular feline. They will stalk their prey before jumping out and killing it. The key difference is that unlike most felines, they do not have retractable claws, only having small points that barely do damage to another, relying entirely on their fangs and venom.

Yes! These guys are venemous! Not any large amount like their name might imply, but enough to paralyze, at most, an animal the size of small rabbit completely. While taking on bigger prey is an issue for one, when hunting in a pack, they can easily take down something much bigger with the combined use of paralyzing venom.

The usual prey they hunt individually. However, are small animals like mice, birds, shrews, and in some places, large insects like tarantulas. Because their mouths are not built for chewing, they will use their fangs to suck the blood out of their prey, like a spider eats bugs or a vampire bat.

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Most wild examples live in colder climates, resulting in a much thicker fur and in a lighter color for camouflage, but there are examples of them living in warmer climates, with both a thinner fur type and completely different, and usually darker, coloring. Domesticated animals can come at almost any shape and form now.

Here is an example of a small domesticated family.

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The kit has coloring and most features from her father, but it looks like she will have her mother's blood coloring.

Her pupil is still fully black while the color and shape develops.

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The mother is closest compared to a domestic tabby cat with coloring. You'll notice her pupil shape is a square.

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The father is mostly black with faint tabby markings as well. His pupil has developed into a heart shape.

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ANYWAYS that's all I got on these guys rn, if you wanna make your own based off information I have written here please tag me!! I would love to see them get more love :)

And here it is, the final poll

[flyingsoup]

When I came out I turned into a beech tree, that’s why I’m a Fagus

…I’ll see myself out

[bethanythebogwitch]

Oh dear, that's an unfortunate scientific name

[a-ginger-in-black]

I want you all to know how much brain power I have dedicated to thinking about taxonomy this morning.

TLDR: At first I thought 'fiber artist' must be the family, in which case you'd get species like Sartor plicarus (common quilter) or Boucle virgula (knitter). But now I think it's the order, including such families as Sartoridae (sewists), Textilidae (weavers), and Nodidae (knotters, including knitters, crocheters, tatters, etc).

*releases pack of dads into home depot* go……be free

[academicelephant]

There's a hymenoptera species called Clistopyga caramba, and as the story goes, the species got that name because it looks really unusual, so unusual that none of the members of the research team that found it had ever seen anything like it, and one of them expressed her surprise by exclaiming "¡Ay, caramba!"

[reddirttown]

Language of Flowers: Yellow Lily

In the language of flowers, every day has its flower. The flower for today, November 14, is Yellow Lily, which signifies playful beauty. Image above from Wikipedia. Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus L., known as lemon daylily, lemon lily, and Yellow Lily, is found across China, in northeast Italy, and Slovenia, and is one of the first daylilies used for breeding new cultivars. Yellow Lily flowers…

[sheepoftheseus]

maybe i should just give into the taxonomy freak in me & start tagging animals by family would yall forgive me. tagging my barn owls w/ #tytonidae & my great horned owls w/ #strigidae

[branches-in-a-flood]

Hey hey hey hey flood go on a ramble about any special interest/hyperfixation. Yell-Teach me about some shit

Oh lord, Drift. That is such a wide ask.

Tonight I went on a rant about how people in my field should unionize. And about how treating "technicians" like ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS actually makes life easier. Because a)they are humans and b) if you treat people well they are more willing to work with you. But that's not really info-dumping, though it was when it happened in person.

As a fun info-dump, one of my (debatable) favorite scientific names for a species I have worked with is Ammotragus lervia, which is the aoudad or Barbary sheep. Ammotragus essentially translates to sand goat, which is fair and not inaccurate. I originally learned that lervia relates to the shape of their horns, which are triagonal in cross section, though it now seems to be an anglicization of the name "lerwee" for wild sheeps of the area.