Science desk
< November 26	<< Oct \| November \| Dec >>	November 28 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 27[edit]

Extant animals with same common and scientific name?[edit]

I know the boa constrictor is one example.

Are there any more? 146.200.127.140 (talk) 21:41, 27 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

When the common name is Latin or Greek based, the scientific name might be the same or similar. Rhinoceros, for one. Octopus, for another. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:47, 27 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if we may consider this a common name, but AFAIK "caenorhabditis elegans" is the only name used in popular literature to name the species (examples: [1], [2], [3]). --Lambiam 00:49, 28 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In our neck of the woods, the term glis glis is widely used in preference to the English language name of "edible dormouse"; an introduced and destructive pest which is perversely protected by wildlife legislation. See Invasion of the glis glis and Dial a Pest - FACT SHEET - Glis Glis. Alansplodge (talk) 14:20, 28 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Also bison (bison bison), and gorilla (gorilla gorilla). Not sure if you would count Gekko gecko. Alansplodge (talk) 14:34, 28 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You can go even further: there are the subspecies the Plains Bison (Bison bison bison) and Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla).

Boa constrictor is the only one I know of where the full binomial name is the same as the common name. There are quite a few where either the generic or specific (or sub-specific) name is also used as a common name. In addition to the ones everyone else has mentioned, there are the genera Alligator, Hippopotamus, Orca (with species Orca orca), Puma, and Python (although not all hippos and pythons are members of the namesake genera). For species and sub-species, there are the dingo (Canis lupis dingo), and one species of zebra (Equis zebra). (And just to make things confusing, there are also several animals where the scientific name is something else's common name (or vice versa), e.g. Echidna (a moray eel, not an Echidna); Platypus (a weevil, not a Platypus); and Rhizostoma octopus (a jellyfish, not an octopus)). Iapetus (talk) 15:48, 30 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]