2:03PM BST 01 Sep 2014
The taxonomic rules which govern the naming of new species have given rise to some gems of nomenclature, including ‘Bison bison bison’, ‘Han solo’ and ‘Gollumjapyx smeagol.’
But peculiar Latin labels may be in danger of dying out after the International Botanical Congress voted in favour of allowing English descriptions of species for the first time.
At an annual meeting in Melbourne, Australia, botanists from all over the world decided that Latin was an ‘irrelevant anachronism’, rooted in an era of gentleman explorers rather than modern science.
Instead English can now be used as an alternative when publishing formal descriptions of plants, funghi and algae. The change will not yet apply to animals.
Nicholas Turland of Berlin’s Botanical Museum said: "Latin has become increasingly difficult to use and is often regarded as an irrelevant anachronism by modern scientists. The meeting clearly wanted an alternative."
Although the change will not yet apply to the names themselves, it is the first sign that Latin as a means of identifying species could be dying out.
The rules for naming species are not restrictive, although labels cannot be offensive and must be spelled out in Latin alphabet with the language’s relevant suffixes or prefixes.
Scientists have tended to take full advantage of the loose regulations to name-check heroes, insert puns or embark on excruciating wordplay.
A gigantic turtle found by Richard Owen was named ‘Ninjemys oweni’ which loosely translates as Owen’s Ninja Turtle.
Biologists at East Carolina University named a species of trapdoor spider ‘Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi’ after Neil Young. David Attenborough recently had the ancient grasshopper ‘Electrotettix attenboroughi’ named in his honour.
A a 505-million-year old extinct arthropod called 'Kootenichela deppi' was named because of its ‘scissor-like hands’ in honour of Johnny Deppy’s role in the Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands.
The works of J.R.R Tolkein have been widely used. 'Gollumjapyx smeagol', 'Oxyprimus galadrielae', 'Macrostyphlus frodo' and 'M. gandalf'all feature.
Others use their genus to humorous ends. It was only a matter of time before a scientist added ‘Solo’ to the genus ‘Han’ to name an ancient trilobite.
