by Michael Ohl (Author), Elisabeth Lauffer (Translator)
From Tyrannosaurus rex to Heteropoda davidbowie: scientific naming as a joyful and creative act.
Tyrannosaurus rex. Homo sapiens. Heteropoda davidbowie.
Behind each act of scientific naming is a story. In this entertaining
and illuminating book, Michael Ohl considers scientific naming as a
joyful and creative act. There are about 1.8 million discovered and
named plant and animal species, and millions more still to be
discovered. Naming is the necessary next step after discovery; it is
through the naming of species that we perceive and understand nature.
Ohl explains the process, with examples, anecdotes, and a wildly varied
cast of characters. He describes the rules for scientific naming; the
vernacular isn't adequate. These rules―in standard binomial
nomenclature, the generic name followed by specific name―go back to
Linnaeus; but they are open to idiosyncrasy and individual expression. A
lizard is designated Barbaturex morrisoni (in honor of the Doors' Jim Morrison, the Lizard King); a member of the horsefly family Scaptia beyonceae. Ohl, a specialist in “winged things that sting,” confesses that among the many wasp species he has named is Ampulex dementor,
after the dementors in the Harry Potter novels. Scientific names have
also been deployed by scientists to insult other scientists, to make
political statements, and as expressions of romantic love: “I shall name
this beetle after my beloved wife.”
The Art of Naming
takes us on a surprising and fascinating journey, in the footsteps of
the discoverers of species and the authors of names, into the nooks and
crannies and drawers and cabinets of museums, and through the natural
world of named and not-yet-named species.
