Fun Trivia » Animals » Miscellaneous Animal Trivia » Taxonomy and Scientific Names

Fun fact: Dogs and wolves belong to the same family. That is why there are some dogs which resemble a wolf, such as a German shepherd and a Siberian husky. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Canis dirus, Canis aureus, Canis rufus

"Insect" comes from the Latin "insectum", meaning "cut into sections". This enormous group of organisms is very diverse - its members vary in size from the 1 mm long fairyfly to some stick insects which can reach over 36 cm long. The range of adaptations evolved by insects is truly stunning and is often overlooked on account of their size. Some insects such as the bombardier beetle can fire boiling and caustic liquid at attackers, and some species of wasps, ants and butterflies employ brain-control techniques. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Annelids, Arthropoda, Millipedes

While there are four classes of the phylum Porifera, all of them sponges, over 90% of sponge species are of the class Demospongia. Natural sea sponges are not square, and SpongeBob looks more like a kitchen sponge, which would be made of cellulose wood fiber or synthetic polyfiber these days. There is a real organism named "Spongiforma squarepantsii" (genus and species): it is a mushroom named for SpongeBob SquarePants, because it looks a bit like the sponges seen as we zoom in on the ocean floor in Stephen Hillenburg's television cartoon series. Cnidaria is the phylum and Anthozoa the class for sea anemones. Bikini Bottom is the fictional part of the sea floor where SpongeBob and his cohorts live. Difficulty: Hard.

 

phylum Spongiforma; class Squarepantsii, phylum Cnidaria; class Anthozoa, phylum Bikinius; class Bottomus

Strangely, the common swift's nearest relatives are thought to be hummingbirds. Incredibly, when not breeding, the common swift spends almost its entire life flying. It even sleeps on the wing. Often their nests are built out of airborne material caught whilst on the wing and stuck together by the bird's saliva. Difficulty: Average.

 

Swallow, Nightjar, Kestrel

The family Anatidae includes ducks as well as swans and geese. The smallest of this family is the cotton pygmy goose, at 26.5cm and 164grams, to the trumpeter swan, at 183cm and 17.2kg.
Anseriformes is the order that the duck falls under, Oxyurinae is a subfamily of ducks, and Aves is the class encompassing birds.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Anseriformes, Oxyurinae, Aves

Tigers are the largest members of the Panthera genus. Tony the Tiger is the mascot for Frosted Flakes, and Sher Khan was the bad guy in "The Jungle Book". Difficulty: Hard.

 

Panther, Leopard, Lion

Their spicules that are found in their matrices (the amoeboid layers found between the outer epithelial layer and the inner collar cells layer) are needle-like structures that provide support for sponges. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Choanocyte, Osculum, Flagella

The correct answer is the study of an organism's evolutionary development. Essentially, phylogenetics takes into account the ancestors of an organism, its genetics, and its derived traits. Sounds pretty nerdy to some, but it's pretty cool to others. A phylum is a clade (a clade is any group of organisms: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species or 'King Philip Called Olivia For Great Sex'), which does pertain to phylogenetics, but is not the best answer.

A system of naming organisms is actually the Linnean system, named after Carl von Linne. This is (more or less) the format that is used for all species names (specifically, the binomial name system: Genus species). Finally, coprophagy is the ingestion of one's own faeces (poo). This is practiced by organisms such as the rabbit and the koala, primarily to maintain the commensal bacteria that help break down the cellulose in their food (plants). Difficulty: Hard.

 

The study of an organism's phylum., A system of naming organisms, developed by Carl von Linne., The study of coprophagy.

"Tachyglossus" means "fast tongue," "aculeatus" means "provided with prickles or spines." The short-beaked echidna is also called the spiny anteater. This is one of three egg-laying mammal species in the world, the other two being the long-beaked echidna and the platypus. Green naped lorikeet = Trichiglossus haemotodus, sperm whale = Physeter catodon, brown hyena = Hyaena brunnea. Difficulty: Hard.

 

green-naped lorikeet, sperm whale, brown hyena

Like many animals, the scientific name of the giant panda is suggestive of some of its physical characteristics. The prefixes "leuc-" and "melan-" usually denote white and black respectively (derivations include "Lucifer" ("light-bringer") and melanocytes ("black cells"). The name "Ailuropoda" means "cat foot" and refers to the cat-like paws of the giant panda. These controversial animals are amongst the most famous in the world and their image is synonymous with the effort to save endangered species. Many have criticised the amount of money spent on panda conservation, however, which arguably detracts from the thousands of other species which become extinct every year. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Skunk, Puffin , Badger

Snails and slugs are molluscs classified as gastropods, a huge class of invertebrate animals, including species that live in the sea, in fresh water, on land, and even in trees. Cephalopods (squid and octopi) and bivalves (clams, oysters, etc.) are also members of the phylum Mollusca. Felidae is the scientific name for the cat family. Gary purrs and meows, but (sorry to tell you this, kids) he's not a cat. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Cephalopoda, Bivalva, Felidae

The female grey partridge can lay up to as many as twenty eggs in one clutch. This species has been introduced to many countries for hunting and it now exists over much of North America where it is known as the Hungarian partridge. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Common pheasant, Common quail, Andalusian hemipode

The vampire squid from hell is a tiny deep-sea cephalopod which is covered in light-generating photophores. Its name comes from a combination of the fact that it lives in a practically lightless depth of the ocean and that its tentacles are covered in fang-like teeth.

Chun, who gave this specimen its eccentric name in 1903 believed it to be an octopus, whereas many others thought it was a squid. Since then, it had been found that the vampire squid is neither, but is rather the only extant member of the order, Vampyromorphida. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Fanged slug-monster, Firey blood-sucker, Spectre with firey teeth

Gibbons are more closely related to monkeys than 'great apes' such as gorillas, chimpanzees and humans yet walk bipedally whereas some of the greater apes 'knuckle walk' rather than walk entirely on two legs. The Hylobtidae family is divided into four genera depending on their diploid chromosome number (which of their chromosomes are copies of one another).
Hominoidea is the superfamily of the gibbon which includes all apes, including humans; Hominidae is the family including 'great apes'; Primate is the order in which the gibbons (and all apes) belong.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Hominoidea, Hominidae, Primate

The American frontiersman, Davy Crockett, has often been portrayed wearing a coonskin cap. Difficulty: Easy.

 

foxes, squirrels, rabbits

The riflebird is native to Queensland and was discovered by Scottish naturalist John Macgillivray.

Another animal to be named after royalty is the King Charles breed of spaniel named after the English King Charles II and now also known as the English Toy Spaniel to distinguish it from the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

In royal terms, one of the heavyweights of the animal naming world is Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand. She has a swallow, crab, prawn, bee, moth, dinosaur, two shrimps and a kamptozoan all named after her. (Source : Wikipedia) Difficulty: Easy.

 

Victoria Beckham, Victoria Principal, Victoria Sponge

The wombat is a marsupial found in Australia. The wombat is the closest living relative to the koala, which is not actually a bear though many think of it as one. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Kangaroo, Koala, Dingo

We're talking raccoons, of course. These industrious critters will eat nearly anything. The Latin word "lotor" translates to "the washer," a reference to the raccoon's habit of washing its food in water before eating. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Cyclura cornuta, Archilochus colubris, Hyperoodon ampullatus

Yes, this grouping does exist! Monogamy is practiced by many animals, but is unrelated (except for the prefix). Asexual mating has nothing to do with the question, but is the term for organisms that divide to reproduce (several types of invertebrates do reproduce in this manner). Difficulty: Easy.

 

A clade of organisms that are monogamous., A group of organisms that only mate asexually., This group does not exist!

"Ceratotherium" means "wild horn," "simum" means "flat-nosed." The white rhino has a wide, flat nose used for grazing. The name "white" is a misnomer, as it is really an adaptation of "weit," the Dutch word for "wide" (referring to the face). Asian elephant = Elephas maximus, dugong = Dugong dugon, greater bamboo lemur = Hapalemur simus. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Asian elephant, dugong, greater bamboo lemur

The giant toad is a native of South America that has been introduced to tropical and subtropical agricultural areas around the world. There are now healthy populations of giant toads in Hawaii, the West Indies, South East Asia, and Australia, where they have become pests. (B. americanus) is the American toad, (B. houstonensis) is the Houston toad, and (B. terrestris) is the southern toad. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Bufo americanus, Bufo houstonensis, Bufo terrestris

Fun fact: Polar bears have black skin. Their coats reflect the sun's light, making it the white/cream colour we see it as. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Mexico, Tahiti, Antarctica

Drosophila melanogaster is known as the common fruit fly and is characterised by its tiny grey body and red eyes. Interestingly, it was its eyes that sparked the fascination of using fruit flies as genetic study samples. In the lab run by geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan, fruit flies had been used due to their rapid reproduction cycles and the large (and easily observable) chromosomes found in their salivary glands. After a certain number of reproduction cycles, an unusual fly emerged.

This fly had white rather than red eyes. This was because of a mutated gene. This white-eyed fly was then bred with other flies, and subsequent studies identified the gene to be sex-linked, as almost all of the white-eyed individuals were male. Several other mutations were identified, and fruit flies helped make Morgan's lab the world centre of genetic research at the time. Difficulty: Very Easy.

 

The house cat , The maggot, The bluebottle

Starfish (more accurately called sea stars, since they are not fish) are classified in the phylum Echinoderma and the class Asteroidea, words that aptly describe their forms: "echinoderm" means "spiny skin" and "asteroid" means "star-like" in Greek. Patrick Star isn't a cephalopod mollusc, since he isn't a squid or octopus; nor is he of the phylum Chordata, since he has no backbone, or the family (not class) Cyprinidae, since he isn't a goldfish. He IS silly and lazy, but these don't strictly count as scientific classifications. Difficulty: Hard.

 

phylum Mollusca; class Cephalopoda, phylum Sillius; class Lazius, phylum Chordata; class Cyprinidae

In winter, these tiny birds have been known to sleep in bird boxes, sometimes in groups of as many as twenty individuals. Despite its diminutive size, it sings much louder than some birds that are twice as big. Difficulty: Average.

 

Robin, Song thrush, Goldcrest

The Macropodidae (macropod means 'large foot') family includes marsupials such as kangaroos, padmelons and wallabies. These herbivorous animals are native to islands around (and including) New Guinea and Australia, although carnivorous kangaroos are known to exist in the past.
Wallabia is a genera of Macropodidae (swamp wallaby); Macropus is the genus including kangaroos, some wallabies, and wallaroos; and Petrogale is the genus that includes the rock-wallabies.
Difficulty: Easy.

 

Wallabia, Macropus, Petrogale

An angel shark is a "kind of shark," which is what Squatina means. It resembles stingrays and skates but is not directly related. Of the sixteen species in the genus, only the sand devil does not have "angel shark" in its name. Difficulty: Hard.

 

giant squid, jellyfish, blue marlin

Zappa had been quoted as saying that there was nothing he'd like better than having a jellyfish named after him. This was music to the ears of fan and marine researcher Ferdinando Boero who set out to find a new jellyfish in order to meet his hero. It worked.

Zappa is quite prolific on the animal naming circuit having also had a spider, a fish and a fossil worm named after him. Difficulty: Hard.

 

It looked exactly like him, He discovered it, It was at the request of the jellyfish

Everybody knows about dead skunk roadkill! The Latin translates as "noxious gas, noxious gas." A very well-named animal, I must say. They put it twice because skunks REALLY stink! Roadkill skunk even inspired a classic song by Louden Wainwright III - "Dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinkin' to high Heaven!" A skunk can spray as far away as 12 feet. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Tremarctos ornatus, Campephilus principalis, Loxodonta africana

"Odobenus" comes from the Greek "one that walks with its teeth," and "rosmarus" comes from the Scandinavian "rossmar," which means "walrus." Aquatic tenrec = Limnogale mergulus, red duiker = Cephalophus natalensis, bongo = Tragelaphus euryceros. Difficulty: Hard.

 

aquatic tenrec, red duiker, bongo

Fun fact: There are more sheep than people in New Zealand. There are sixty million sheep, but only four million people in the country! Difficulty: Hard.

 

Capricorn, Pisces, Cancer

The European robin is a small member of the thrush family that is often associated with Christmas-time. Though often simply called the robin, this animal is sometimes called the robin redbreast, despite the chest of the bird invariably being more of an orange colour. Interestingly, this is not through mis-observation, but rather that a word for the colour orange did not exist until its namesake fruit was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Difficulty: Average.

 

Red fox, Tomato frog , Crimson sunbird

Arthropods are a very large class that also includes insects. Both crabs and lobsters are members of the phylum Arthropoda (which means "jointed feet") and the subphylum Crustacea (which means "having a shell or rind"). Crabs and lobsters, as well as shrimp and krill, also share the class Malacostraca, while another relative, the barnacle, is in the class Maxillopoda. Birds are classified in the phylum Chordata and class Aves; members of the phylum Chordata and the superclass Tetrapoda are the many animals who have four limbs (including birds). Difficulty: Easy.

 

phylum Yummy; subphylum Yummier, phylum Chordata; subphylum Aves, phylum Chordata; subphylum Tetrapoda

A hawfinch's favorite food are the kernels of cherry stones which it accesses by cracking the cherry stones with its very powerful beak. It is a bird that is distributed throughout Europe and parts of Asia, but its two closest relatives are the evening grosbeak of North America and the hooded grosbeak of Central America. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch

Alligator comes from the Spanish "el lagarto", meaning lizard.

Many of the best examples of names based on incorrect observation come from far back in history. For example, many sailors mistook dugong and manatees for mermaids, giving rise to the order, Sirenia.

It was also widely believed up until the 1800s that Lepas anatifera (a barnacle), fell into the sea and would grow into an adult barnacle goose. "Anatifera" means "goose bearing". Difficulty: Hard.

 

That an alligator is a fish, That an alligator is a dinosaur, That an alligator is a turtle

Pangolins were once considered a close relation to anteaters - but not anymore - although it can be confusing because they are sometimes referred to as a 'spiny anteater'. Yet they do eat ants. Hmmm... The powerful back legs of the pangolin allow them to sometimes walk upright as a biped. Pangolins are also the only mammals with scales.
Manis is the genus that pangolins belong to, Pholidota (as well as being a genus of the family Orchidaceae - orchid) is the order to which pangolins belong, and Manis gigantea is the pangolin species 'giant pangolin'.
Difficulty: Hard.

 

Manis, Pholidota, Manis gigantea

Grévy's Zebra is also known as the Imperial Zebra. It is native to Ethiopia and Kenya and is the largest of zebra species. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Llama, Lion, Polar Bear

One nickname for the great white shark is "white death". Movies such as "Jaws" and "Deep Blue Sea" have portrayed sharks as extremely dangerous creatures. However, based on statistics, people are more likely to die from being struck by lightning or by falling down the stairs than by being attacked by a shark. Difficulty: Easy.

 

Tiger Shark, Hammerhead Shark, Orca

Some examples of animals in this Platyhelminthes phylum are hookworms, heartworms (found in infected dogs' hearts), and pinworms. They are all supported by hydrostatic skeletons. Difficulty: Hard.

 

Exoskeleton, Endoskeleton, Bones and cartilages

Well, they're not REALLY trees! Trees are employed by most scientists. These allow an expanding set of traits, while showing a progression towards a set of organisms (most trees would go from generalists to more specialised creatures). One of the early incarnations of phylogenetic representation was not unlike a venn diagram! Graphs would become extremely convoluted, and wouldn't be able to represent the full scope of changes. While 3-D models are necessarily bad, they are an over complication of the concept. The third dimension is, typically, unnecessary. Difficulty: Hard.

 

3-D phylogenetic models: these models are similar to those employed by chemists and show biological connections., Graphs to show the progression of a creature's development., Venn diagrams: a series of overlapping circles to show the traits that organisms have in common.