A Fly Called Iyaiyai

Science News, May 26, 2001 by Susan Milius

In fact, one of Evenhuis' colleagues, Lee Golf, had just had a paper rejected by the JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ENTOMOLOGY because he proposed naming a new chigger Trombicula tgifi. Goff next submitted his work to a Belgian journal, which did publish it. Goff suspected that the European reviewers hadn't recognized the American end-of-the-week expletive, TGIF.

Goff's maneuver inspired Evenhuis to submit his Phthiria paper to the Polish entomological journal POLSKIE PISMO ENTOMOLOGIZNE. "I thought it would be a miracle if anyone in the journal's editorial department would pronounce the name as we would in English," he says.

In the same paper, Evenhuis described the bee flies Oligodranes humbug and Oligodranes zzyzxensis. Those didn't worry him because he attributed them to California geography, Humbug Creek, and Zzyzx Springs, respectively.

Knowingly or not, the journal published his whimsies in 1984. "I was in heaven," Evenhuis says.

But his triumph proved short-lived. In 1986, Evenhuis reanalyzed the bee-fly group and found that relativitae fits into a different genus. "Science should always be progressing," he intones, but progress had transformed his carefully crafted name into Poecilognathus relativitae. "I was crushed," he notes.

Since then, he's consoled himself by assigning a happy discovery, a fly family, the name Serendipitae, and his fly Villa manillae has fared better than the lip-synching pop namesakes. The nomenclature commission's code of ethics no longer explicitly discourages humor that's not likely to give offense.

Evenhuis has even grown philosophical about Phthiria. He advises, "Bottom line: if you try to be funny with names, be aware that someone with later science may confound your efforts. And that person may be yourself."

Name Games

ERSATZ CLASSICISM

Aegrotocatellus Adrain and Edgecombe, 1995 (trilobite). Literally "sick puppy."

Amblyoproctus boondocksius Ratcliffe, 1988 (beetle). Not one of the scarabs next door.

Eucritta melanolimnetes Clark, 1998 (fossil amphibian). Loosely "creature from the black lagoon."

Chloridops regiskongi Hames and Olson, 1991 (Hawaiian finch). Described as "a real King Kong" before it went extinct.

Dorcus titanus titanus Boisduval, 1835 (stag beetle). Perhaps "titanic dork"?

Geoballus caputalbus Crabill, 1969 (millipede). Named after its collectocs, George Ball and Donald Whitehead, a.k.a. "head-white."

Stupidogobius Aurich, 1938 (fish).

UNHOOKED ON PHONICS

Arfia Van Valen, 1965 (fossil hyaenodont resembling a dog).

Blaps Fabricius, 1775 (darkling beetle).

Boops Gronow, 1854 (porgy fish).

Cedusa medusa McAtee, 1924 (bug).

Eucosma bobana, E. cocana, E. dodana, E. fofana Kearfoot, 1907 (olethreutid moths). And there are more.

Trombicula doremi and T. fasola Brennan and Beck, 1955 (chiggers).

Zyx Smit, 1953 (flea).

EXTREMES

Aa Baker, 1940 (mollusk). First genus name alphabetically, so far.

Aaadonta Solem, 1976 (snail). Second place in alphabet.

Aegilops Hall, 1850 (mollusk). Longest word with all letters in alphabetical order.

Gammaracanthuskytodermogammarus loricatobaicalensis Dybowski, 1926 (amphipod). The longest binomial, at least before it was internationally banned.