FruitBat ([info]al_fruitbat) wrote,
2007-05-23 13:13:00
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Happy Birthday Linnaeus!

Today is the 300th birthday of Carolus Linnaeus (aka Carl Linné), the great biologist who invented binomial nomenclature.

Thanks to him, we refer to Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, Meganictiphanes norvegica, Lasius fuliginosus, Rattus rattus, Vespa vulgaris, Felis libyca, Myrmica rufa and many more.

I typed those 8 from memory. How many can you identify without google? Just so you know, they are heavily biased towards animals that I like, although I'm shocked that I can't give the latin name of two out of my three favourite animals!

[edit] Panthera tigris and Enhydra lutris complete my set of favourites.

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  • 26 comments

[info]lanfykins

May 23 2007, 12:50:14 UTC 5 years ago

canis lupus, canis familiaris, rattus norwegicus, yersinia pestis, plasmodiaum falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium malariae... I think my bias may be showing too :)

[info]lanfykins

May 23 2007, 12:52:01 UTC 5 years ago

Oh, and I recognise the so-called wise man, chimpanzee, rat and tiger.

[info]undyingking

May 23 2007, 13:04:03 UTC 5 years ago

I can add common wasp and red ant to those, on a "know your enemy" basis.

But I thought tigers were Panthera tigris? Goodness knows what a "Libyan cat" might be, a lynx perhaps?

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 13:11:39 UTC 5 years ago

Red ant? No, Myrmica rufa is a wood ant. It is a bit red though.
Felis libyca is the egyptian wild cat, the ancestor of all domestic cats (which are called Felis catus)

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 13:22:07 UTC 5 years ago

Ooh! I'm wrong! You're right. Formica rufa is the wood ant. I've gone and screwed up the genuses. D'oh!

[info]cardinalsin

May 23 2007, 16:51:44 UTC 5 years ago

Hehe, ants are made of formica!

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 17:08:39 UTC 5 years ago

Formica is latin for 'ant'.

[info]undyingking

5 years ago

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[info]bateleur

May 23 2007, 13:15:22 UTC 5 years ago

I was thinking possibly some kind of domestic cat. They're not all Felis Cattus are they ? I have some vague idea that all the big cats are Panthera <something>.

[info]lanfykins

May 23 2007, 13:39:11 UTC 5 years ago

Panthera tigris is listed :)

[info]undyingking

May 23 2007, 14:01:30 UTC 5 years ago

Curse you and your ability to read all the way to the bottom of a post! ;-)

[info]elethiomel

May 23 2007, 13:40:22 UTC 5 years ago

Specifically the black rat, rather than the altogether cuter brown/norwegian/wharf rat

[info]lanfykins

May 23 2007, 13:43:59 UTC 5 years ago

I thought it was the Norwegian rat that was black, and rattus rattus was brown?

Help, someone who knows about rats!

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 13:47:50 UTC 5 years ago

Gotta go with the one most associated with plague ;-)

[info]elethiomel

May 23 2007, 15:00:54 UTC 5 years ago

Krill are amongst your favourite animals?

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 15:11:37 UTC 5 years ago

They're krilliant! [sorry]
I dunno why I remember the latin name for 'em, I just do. That said, I like most invertebrates.

[info]cardinalsin

May 23 2007, 16:50:55 UTC 5 years ago

The three I can ID are man, the chimpanzee and black rat. I think the last is some sort of mushroom, but don't actually recognise. Obviously, the second-last is a feline of some kind. The clue didn't help at all!

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 17:15:02 UTC 5 years ago

Sorry that the clue didn't help. My favourite animals are the ant, the tiger and the sea otter, but I don't expect anyone (apart from [info]_alanna to know this ;-)

[info]cardinalsin

May 23 2007, 19:05:06 UTC 5 years ago

Well, I guessed the ant, but didn't actually know which name it was. Myrmica would have been my guess, if I hadn't inexplicably believed it to be a mushroom :o/

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 19:36:56 UTC 5 years ago

It's entirely understandable. The two do have similar latin names.
Ant-studiers are 'myrmecologists' and fungi-lovers are 'mycologists'

[info]cardinalsin

May 24 2007, 20:43:12 UTC 5 years ago

I wonder if "myca" refers to chitin? 'Shrooms and ants have that in common.

[info]verlaine

May 23 2007, 20:02:28 UTC 5 years ago

Nil carborundus illegitimus

[info]al_fruitbat

May 23 2007, 21:01:48 UTC 5 years ago

"don't let those without laws grind you down?"

Sorry, my latin is terrible. I hated latin. My latin books are the only ones I've ever burnt (and I don't regret it)

[info]verlaine

May 23 2007, 21:14:33 UTC 5 years ago

Any society that burns its Latin books will start burning people soon afterwards! (Normally because I'll come round to their house in a state of high pique and set them on fire!)

[info]al_fruitbat

May 24 2007, 07:18:12 UTC 5 years ago

Bring it on. You and bloody Quintus can both fuck off ;-D

[info]verlaine

May 23 2007, 20:04:24 UTC 5 years ago

Hmm - man, chimp, lemming?, black something, rat, common wasp, Libyan cat (I want to say lynx for no reason as all), red ant.

Panther and otter?
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