Worst/ funniest/ etc. name for a species?

Question

Here's a lighter question for everyone. Does anyone have a favorite "worst" or "funniest" name for a species that they'd like to share?

Answer 1

gorilla gorilla gorilla.

Proper name of the Western gorilla. The name so nice they say it thrice.

Answer 2

One of my favourite scientific names is the name for the critter commonly known as the boa constrictor. It's scientific name is Boa constrictor. I don't know why, but that amuses me.

Another favourite is a series of species of ground beetle, all in the Genus Agra. There's Agra cadabra, Agra dable, Agra vation, and Agra phobia.

Ba humbugi, a type of Fijian snail is another good one.

Then there's the genus of small mollusc shellfish whose name is Ittibittium.

Or another type of snail, whose scientific name is Turbo.

There's a lot of that stuff in entomology, paleontology and marine biology. Sometimes it gets hard to come up with new names for species.

But for me, the weirdest name is the odd-looking deer-like pig native to Sulawesi and various Indonesian islands. The common name is babirusa, but the scientific name is Babyrousa babyrussa. Just to make sure no one can remember how to spell it, presumably.

Answer 3

A species related to roses called fartweed.

Answer 4

I once read an article called "The Name Game" that was all about this topic. One that sticks in my mind was Phtheria relativitae.

This site addresses the issue of naming:
http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970919/skinnyon.html

You'd also enjoy a look at this site about the names of genes:
http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/taxonomy/taxGene.html

And having read the first poster's response about gorillas makes me think of when my middle son was really young and trying to say gorilla. He always said, "Go-lilla." One day our conversation was, ...
Child: "Golilla."
Mom: "Gorrrrilla."
"Golilla."
"Gorrrrilla."
"I call monkey."

Answer 5

Cannabis blyth... its a bird!
Eubetia bigaulae... a moth. Pro: youbetcha bygollae. lol
Narcissus assoanus... a lily.

Those are all I remember! I hope there are some good ones!

Answer 6

The pill bug. The official scientific name is no better - Armadidlysomething. I can barely pronounce it.

Answer 7

I've always thought a platypus was a really funny name.