| Description |
1 online resource (ix, 241 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
A lemur and its name -- The need for names -- How scientific naming works -- Forsythia, magnolia, and names within names -- Gary Larson's louse -- Maria Sibylla Merian and the metamorphosis of natural history -- David Bowie's spider, Beyoncé's fly, and Frank Zappa's jellyfish -- Spurlingia: a snail for the otherwise forgotten -- The name of evil -- Richard Spruce and the love of liverworts -- Names from the ego -- Eponymy gone wrong? Robert von Beringe's gorilla and Dian Fossey's tarsier -- Less than a tribute: the temptation of insult naming -- Charles Darwin's tangled bank -- Love in a latin name -- The Indigenous blind spot -- Harry Potter and the name of the species -- Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer adn the fish from the depths of time -- Names for sale -- A fly for Mabel Alexander -- Madame Berthe's mouse lemur |
| Summary |
Ever since Carl Linnaeus's binomial system of scientific names was adopted in the eighteenth century, scientists have been eponymously naming organisms in ways that both honor and vilify their namesakes. This charming, informative, and accessible history examines the fascinating stories behind taxonomic nomenclature, from Linnaeus himself naming a small and unpleasant weed after a rival botanist to the recent influx of scientific names based on pop-culture icons - including David Bowie's spider, Frank Zappa's jellyfish, and Beyoncé's fly. Exploring the naming process as an opportunity for scientists to express themselves in creative ways, Stephen B. Heard's fresh approach shows how scientific names function as a window into both the passions and foibles of the scientific community and as a more general indicator of the ways in which humans relate to, and impose order on, the natural world |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-225) and index |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from PDF title page (JSTOR, viewed on March 27, 2020) |
| Subject |
Natural history -- Classification -- Popular works
|
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Biology -- Classification -- Popular works
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Biology -- Nomenclature -- Popular works
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SCIENCE -- Life Sciences -- Taxonomy.
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Biology
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Natural history -- Classification
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| Genre/Form |
Popular works
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
Damstra, Emily S., illustrator.
|
| LC no. |
2019947766 |
| ISBN |
9780300252699 |
|
0300252692 |
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