• angrystego@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 hours ago

      While we’re at it, let’s make an honorable mention of the naughtiest of all Amorphophallus species, A. fornicatus.

  • the_artic_one@programming.dev
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    11 hours ago

    Also “sub-”, at least in mycological names.

    The other day, I read that there’s a mushroom called “Agaricus subsubensis” and I felt like I was being trolled.

  • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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    19 hours ago

    I have no idea on why they decided to call the common European frog Rana temporaria, but “temporary frog” sounds really funny. “Eh this species name is just temporary, I swear”.

    I’m also kind of surprised I couldn’t find a single species called merdicula (little shit). Seems like the sort of humour some would have.

    • teft@piefed.social
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      18 hours ago

      Pretty sure that temporaria is related in this case to temporal, not temporary. It’d be like frog of the times or frog of the right season or something like that.

      I could be wrong though.

      As for little shits I would try something with copro- in it. That’s the greek word for shit. Like coprophage is a shiteater or Copromorphidae are a family of moths that have shit like camouflage.

      • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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        18 hours ago

        Temporal: that would explain it. But it still sounds funny.

        Copromorphidae: I stand corrected. Shit-shaped moths!

        I also found a frog called Allobates niputidea. That’s from Spanish though, not Latin. (ni puta idea = no fucking idea.)

        • LeapSecond@lemmy.zip
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          17 hours ago

          Looking for the backstory of the frog name, here’s another gem from here.

          Now, the caterpillar remains alive for a while as the baby wasps eat it from the inside, bending and squirming as it becomes desiccated and dies. These wiggly movements made the scientists think of Shakira, and thus the species Aleiodes shakirae immortalized the Colombian singer in the annals of zoology.

          Zoologists are fun.