• the scientific name of the common Australian garden fungus Aseroë rubra (pictured) means 'red disgusting juice'?
• the Helophilus pendulus (pictured) is a European hoverfly, whose scientific name means "dangling swamp-lover"?
• the scientific name of the Peacock carpenter bee (Xylocopa bombylans) means "bumblebee-like wood-cutter"?
• the Brazilian orchid I. virginalis (pictured), the first species of Isabelia discovered, remained without a formal description or scientific name for four decades after its discovery?
• despite what its scientific name implies, the perennial garden plant Salvia indica is not naturally found in India?
• because of its dorsal fin, Carolus Linnaeus first described the Permit as Labrus falcatus, with the latter part of the scientific name meaning "armed with scythes?"

Facts on topics related to Scientific name

Binomial nomenclature

• common bracken's scientific name of Pteridium aquilinum is derived from its frond's resemblance to eagle wings?
• before it was scientifically described, the stingray Dasyatis acutirostra was often confused with Dasyatis zugei?
• the binomial name of the White-throated Treecreeper (pictured) translates as "brown and white trunk traveller"?
• the scientific name of Longnose trevally (Carangoides chrysophrys) means "golden eyebrow"?
• the scientific name of the vase-shaped forest fungus Gomphus floccosus (pictured) means 'woolly plug'?
• the species name of South Africa's Eastern Cape Blue Cycad (pictured), horridus, is Latin for 'sticking out' or 'prickly', after the plant's stiff, spiny leaflets?
• the herb Forsskaolea tenacissima was so named by Carl Linnaeus because it was as stubborn and persistent as his student Peter Forsskål (pictured) had been?
• the Bare-faced Bulbul, the only songbird in Asia to lack feathers on the face, is the first Asian bulbul to be described in over 100 years?
• the Blood Parrot, a cross-bred fish, has neither a binomial nomenclature nor a distinctly known parentage?
• the Green Rosella (pictured) of Tasmania was mistakenly believed by Johann Friedrich Gmelin to have originated from New Caledonia and named accordingly?

Genus

• catfish species of the genus Hypophthalmus are unusual among neotropical fishes because they feed on plankton by straining water over a fine sieve created by numerous long, thin gill rakers?
• catfish of the genus Dekeyseria can rapidly change their colouration to fit their mood or their surroundings?
  
• catfish of the genus Leporacanthicus are also known as vampire plecostomus because of the presence of very long teeth on their upper jaw?
• fishes from the genus Alepes are characterised by a curve in their lateral line?
• genus Inimicus includes highly venomous benthic stonefishes, such as Inimicus filamentosus (pictured), which use their pectoral fins as legs to walk on the seabed?
• moss of the genus Polytrichum has adapted to trap moist air between rows of lamellae?
• Archaeopotamus is the oldest well-identified genus of hippos, having lived 7.5 million to 1.8 million years ago?
• ice-minus bacteria, a variant of genus Pseudomonas, are useful in agriculture, because they can prevent the formation of ice on crops?
• Kirill Eskov named a genus from the Linyphiidae spider family discovered by him in 1988 after Kikimora, a female spirit in Slavic mythology?
• Pluma porgies are the most common member of the genus Calamus in the Antilles, where they are often used for food?