Taxonomy: the Science of Naming and Describing Species

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Taxonomy: the science of naming and describing species Each distinct species is given a binomial name: The first word is the genus and is capitalized; the second word is the species epithet; the binomial name is always italicized or underlined; eg. Homo sapiens Species that are very closely related may be placed in the same genus; eg. Caenis lupus (gray wolf), Caenis familiaris (domestic dog) and Caenis latrans (coyote); or Felix domesticus (house cat), Felix leo (lion) and Felix tigris (tiger) Most binomial names are latinized terms that describe some important characteristic of the species, identify the location from which it was first collected or honor a particular researcher in the field In a few instances species have been named after real or imagined celebrities: Leonardo davincii (moth) Polemistus chewbacca (wasp) Polemistus vaderi (wasp) Aptostichus stephencolberti (spider) Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi Aegrotocatellus jaggeri Agra katewinsletae Agra schwarzeneggeri Agathidium bushi (slime mold beetle) Agathidium cheneyi (slime mold beetle) Agathidium rumsfeldi (slime mold beetle) Avalanchurus garfunkeli Avalanchurus lennoni Campsicnemius charliechaplini (fly) Calponia harrisonfordi Confuciusornis sanctus (bird) Funkotriplogynium iagobadius — James Brown. Iago is "James" and badius is "brown" in Latin Hyla stingi (frog) Orontobia dalailama (moth) Orectochilus orbisonorum (beetle) Preseucoila imallshookupis — Elvis Presley. And the specific name for one of his songs Struszia mccartneyi [see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_named_after_celebrities for more] Or sometimes just for fun: Abra cadabra (clam) La cucaracha (moth) Agra phobia (beetle) Ohmyia omya (fly) Agra vation (beetle) Ytu brutus (beetle) Ba humbugi (snail) Enema pan (beetle) Gelae donut (beetle) Phthiria relativitae (fly) Heerz lukenatcha (wasp) Pison eyvae (wasp) The binomial name with the most letters apparently is: Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides (fly, with 42 letters in the full name) B. Dybowski, however, in 1927 proposed the following name for a Lake Baikal amphipod: Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis Which, with 50 letters, may be the longest scientific name ever proposed but this name was later invalidated by the ICZN..

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Terry L. Erwin (1940–2020): Un Científico Muy Agra-Dable
Received: 4 June 2020 | Accepted: 9 June 2020 DOI: 10.1111/btp.12828 COMMENTARY REMEMBRANCE: Terry L. Erwin (1940–2020): Un científico muy Agra-dable Carlos García-Robledo1 | Erin K. Kuprewicz1 | W. John Kress2 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA 2National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA Correspondence: Carlos García-Robledo, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. Email: [email protected] It is with a profound sadness that we acknowledge the passing of the past 10 years, Terry has performed most of his fieldwork in the ineffable Terry L. Erwin on 11 May 2020. Along with being a Yasuní National Park, Ecuador, where he worked every summer until true giant in the fields of entomology and biodiversity science, Terry last year. was a steadfast colleague, an unsurpassed curator of specimens and If you asked Terry to classify himself, he would tell you that he information, an indefatigable mentor, and most of all a dear friend. was a carabidologist: an entomologist who studies the taxonomy Terry was a powerhouse in the field of biodiversity science, but he of a particularly charismatic and beautiful group of predatory bee- was also a very “nice” (= “agradable” in Spanish) scientist who emitted tles (specializing even further on the genus Agra). However, if you a playfulness that belied his extensive knowledge and deep under- asked Terry what he thought of as his most significant contribution
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