An animation illustrating the anagram between the Euphorbiaceae genus names Joannesia and Annesijoa
Illustration from Adam White 's A Popular History of British Crustacea , 1857, showing the crustacean genera Conilera and Rocinela named by Leach using taxonomic 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 .[ 1] 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.[ 2] 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.[ 3]
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 .[ 1]
List in botany
Notes
References
^ a b Jozwiak, Piotr; Rewicz, Tomasz; Pabis, Krzysztof (2015-07-16). "Taxonomic etymology – in search of inspiration" . ZooKeys (513): 143– 160. Bibcode :2015ZooK..513..143J . doi :10.3897/zookeys.513.9873 . ISSN 1313-2970 . PMC 4524282 . PMID 26257573 .
^ Mortenson, Philip B. (2004). This is not a weasel: a close look at nature's most confusing terms . John Wiley & Sons. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-471-27396-7 .
^ McNeill, J.; et al., eds. (2012). International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code), Adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011 (electronic ed.). Bratislava: International Association for Plant Taxonomy.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Burkhardt, Lotte (2018-06-06). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen - Erweiterte Edition. Index of Eponymic Plant Names - Extended Edition. Index de Noms éponymiques des Plantes - Édition augmentée (in German). Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin. doi :10.3372/epolist2018 . ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 . S2CID 187926901 .
^ Hyam, R.; Pankhurst, R.J. (1995). Plants and their names : a concise dictionary . Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866189-4 .
^ Robinson, George L.; Wunderlin, Richard P. (2005). "Revision of Siolmatra (Cucurbitaceae: Zanonieae)" . SIDA, Contributions to Botany . 21 (4): 1961– 1969. ISSN 0036-1488 .