What's in a name? The science of animal names
What do you call your favorite soft drink? Pop? Soda? What about a footlong sandwich? Do you say sub, hoagie, wedge, po'boy or something completely different?
Just like sandwiches, some animals are called different things by different people. These common names can be difficult to keep track of! To stay organized, researchers have come up with a solution that gives each organism a single unique name. These scientific names (sometimes known as binomial names) are given to animals, plants and other creatures so scientists can categorize all living things. When researching an animal, scientists will often use its scientific name to not confuse data with another animal.
Scientific names are often based in the Ancient Greek or Latin languages. Greek and Latin have influences on words in modern languages like English, Spanish, French and more.
Did you know we use Latin every day? On digital clocks, the a.m. and p.m. stand for the Latin terms "ante meridiem" and "post meridiem." These words translate to "before midday" and "after midday." Another Latin word, “anima,” means life or something with breath. We use anima a lot in words, including animation and also animal!
Let's consider lightning bugs … or maybe you call them fireflies? The most common firefly species in North America is the big dipper firefly, also known as the common eastern firefly.
Words to know
Organism: A living thing that can grow, reproduce and respond to its environment.
Photosynthesis: The process by which carbon dioxide, water and inorganic salts are converted to carbohydrates.
Do you see why scientists need their own language to communicate? Whether you call it the big dipper firefly or the common eastern firefly, the scientific name of this insect is Photinus pyralis. These words come from Ancient Greek, with "phos" meaning light (where we get the words photosynthesis and photography from) and "pyra" meaning fire.
There are also cases where completely different animals are called the same thing. Have you ever seen a daddy long legs? Was it outside in the woods, or in a dark basement? Depending on where you find it, you may not even be looking at a spider at all!
Have you seen this long-legged creature out in the woods before? Some people think it is a type of spider, but these arachnids aren't spiders at all! Also called harvestmen, the daddy long legs that look like the one above have a total of 10 legs and only two eyes.
The scientific name for this critter is Leiobunum vittatum. Leiobunam can be split into "leios," meaning smooth, and "bounos," meaning mound or hill in Greek. The "vitta" in vittatum is Latin and translates to "stripe" or "band." Putting these words together, you can see this harvestman's body is one smooth hill with a band across it. Isn't the scientist who named it so clever!
Now THIS is a spider! Do you see how it has two separate body segments instead of the singular body of the harvestman? This spider is commonly known as the cellar spider, but its scientific name is Pholcus phalangioides.
This name's meaning is super neat! Pholcus comes from the Greek word "pholkos," meaning crooked-legged. Then, phalangioides separates into "phalangium," which is part of some harvestman scientific names, and "oides," meaning resembling or looking like. Put it all together and this is a crooked-legged spider that looks like a harvestman!
So, do you think you'll upgrade from using common names to scientific names? Impress your friends by calling their pet dog a "Canis familiaris," or address a deer out in Will County's forest preserves as an "Odocoileus virginianus" instead.
