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List of taxa named by anagrams

In the biological nomenclature codes, an anagram can be used to name a new taxon.

Wordplays are one source of inspiration allowing organisms to receive scientific names. In the binomial nomenclature, as scientists have latitude in naming genera and species, a taxon name can therefore be an anagram, provided it remains pronounceable. For example, in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, a new generic name can be taken from the name of a person by using an anagram or abbreviation of it.

William Elford Leach was among the first naturalists to use taxonomic anagrams, and, in 1818, he described several isopod genera that were each other's anagrams of 'Caroline' : Conilera, Lironeca, Nerocila, Olencira, and Rocinela.

List

Other names

While not a currently valid name, a scientific name was proposed for the Loch Ness Monster in a 1975 paper published in Nature by Sir Peter Scott & Robert Rines. The name, Nessiteras rhombopteryx, was later pointed out as being an anagram for "Monster hoax by Sir Peter S."

Notes

References