A blind cave arachnid has been named after a Lord of the Rings character soon after the naming of a golden-bottomed flit – these creatures deserve better from us homo sapiensBlame Carl Linnaeaus. The father of contemporary taxonomy started it all when – possibly mind-numbingly bored by the prospect of assigning Latin binomials (double-barrelled genus/species names) to every living species – he decided to have some fun with the blue whale. The larky Swede dubbed it Balaenoptera musculus – big-winged mouse. Hilarious,eh? Ever since, the conformities of scientific naming have produced in-jokes, or excruciating puns and dodgy cultural references. Hence the latest,a current species of blind cave arachnid or harvestman from south-eastern Brazil has sent scientists to their much thumbed copies of the Lord of the Rings. Pale and rather elegant, Iandumoema smeagol refers to Smeagol, and the hobbit who became the troglodytic,sibilant-voiced Gollum. Related: When it comes to conservation, common names count | George C McGavin Related: And the winner of Wikipedia's influence list is … an 18th century botanist. Hear hear | Patrick Barkham Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com