the scientific names of organisms can be misleading?

Question

biology

Answer 1

Scientific names cannot always be taken literally, though sometimes the name is an accurate representaion of the organism it represents. This is due to a common rule that the discoverer gets to chose a binomial (2 part name) for any new animal or plant the find.
I testify that common names, not scientific names, are the ones that are confusing and/or misleading. Especially when they misrepresent the organism or provide and inaccurate description of it. A single animal or plant can have several common names (especially if it is found in different regions, countries or cultures), however, it only has one true scientific name that is universally representative. So, stick to the scientific names!

Answer 2

Some scientific names are misleading because of mistaken locality. I'll use examples of mollusks, since that is my specialty. In the early days, ships would circumnavigate the globe, taking a year or more, and sailors would pick up attractive shells and other specimens here and there, and bring them back to Europe. Scientists in Europe, like Linnaeus, Lamarck, Lister, Chemnitz and others would obtain these specimens from returning ships, describe and name them. They had no way of knowing where a specimen came from, except the memory of the sailor they got it from. And so we have names like "brasiliensis", meaning "from Brazil" applied to a species from west Africa, or "panamaensis", "from Panama" assigned to a species from the Philippines; or "africanus" to a species from India.

Some names are misleading because the specimens the species were described from were not typical. The "measled cowrie" is a spotted gastropod from the Caribbean area, and the common name "measled" describes it well. However its scientific name is "Cypraea zebra" because it was described from an immature specimen, and the immature form of this snail is striped. Or, a species may be named "alba", meaning "white", because it was described from a white specimen; but it was later discovered that the species is typically brown, and the white specimen was just a rare albino individual, which the sailor picked up because it stood out among all the normal brown ones. This sort of thing has happened quite frequently.

You would expect a species named "gigantea" to be quite large. So, why would a species only 1 cm in length be named "gigantea"? Because all the other species in that particular family are even smaller. This species is the "giant" among its close relatives.

Answer 3

the scientific names of organism comes from latin.
if we don't learn latin, then it would make no sense.
but if you know latin you will know that the name is the description of the organism( in latin of course).
thanks to Carolus linnaeus.

to really memorise the name of phylum and class and not mixe up both of them..required repetition and repetition.
learn some basic prefix and suffix in latin..
and get a colourful textbook
and associate a particular phylum or class with examples that are common to you.
it might be a lot more easier to memorise..
the first step is always difficult.

Answer 4

You made a statement with a question mark at the end.
You are misleading, my friend.

Answer 5

yes!