Don't worry, all will be explained in the next article. But first things first: please provide the flightless azhdarchid with a binomial name. The cleverest and most euphonious wins (and I pick the winner). Please explain derivations and etymologies where appropriate. Good luck.
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Jar jarius.
Giraffasaurus kallitechniphagus
(Artist-eating giraffe-lizard)
Terrambulator skeksis. The prenomen/genus name is Latin for "land strider", and, in conjunction* with the species name/epithet, it indicates that it looks like a combination of two creatures from The Dark Crystal.
* Great Conjunction?
Terradactylus aragorn
"Earth Finger/Strider"
One mo'.
Supercamelliphilus exvolatidotatus, meaning "superior tea-lover* which used to be endowed with flight". (Apologies to Julie Andrews.)
* Note the pinkie. Okay, it's digit IV, but close enough.
Azis anguis
Azis rhomphaea
Azis cornucrassus
Azis derives from the Iranian Avestan word for serpent or dragon, anguis means snake, rhomphaea means long javelin (referring to its beak), cornucrassus essentially means "strong beak" in Latin.
I'm just throwing things out here
replace aragorn with hastanex - the spear of violent death!
Dracocervus terascephalus - Dragon-deer with the monster head
I have a few ideas:
Terrazhdarchis/Terrazhdarcho apteryx ('land azhdarchid without wings'), from the obvious fact that it has no wing membranes. Also, 'aptilon', which means 'no sails'.
So: Terrazhdarchis apteryx, Terrazhdarcho apteryx, Terrazhdarchis aptilon, Terrazhdarcho aptilon, and Paleapteryx terradactyl. (Ancient wingless land finger)
For some especially clever names, try on a few of these:
Dinocephalus (terrible head - that's an ugly little fucker), Megastomapteryx (big mouth wingless), Megapalargos (big stork), Megadodo (a slightly damning reference to the dodo), Gigadodo (ibid.), and Helenapteryx (a reference to the fact that it has no wings and the fact that this is an azhdarchid that could launch a thousand ships)
Gigantociconimimus hieronymusboschii - The genus name translates to "Giant stork mimic" and the species name suggests a resemblance to the demons found in the work of Hieronymus Bosch
The ones that aren't claimed are all but Dinocephalus, and I just realized that Megadodo would be perfect if you want to make an oblique tribute to Douglas Adams's 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' .
... TERRAZHDARCHIS MEGADODO.
Here is a literary reference...
Tash inexorbilis - Tash the relentless, after the demon-god of the same name (and similar appearance) in the Narnia books.
Dinodactylus styx
[styx as in the river, where the victims go,
and just plain 'sticks', the critter seems a bit bony dontcha know,
and not the band Styx, which would be capitalized].
That's a good one, Gothy. (Although I think you're missing an "a" -- inexorabilis.)
Image of Tash absconding with a Musl... I mean, Calormen: here.
Got another.
Nephil camerellus, from Hebrew "nephilim", a term used to refer to "the great heroes of old" (somewhat similar to Greek "titan"), and is related to the word for "fall". It's variously interpreted as "the fallen ones" (i.e., fallen angels or sons of the gods or whatnot) or "those who cause others to fall (in battle)", either of which seems apropos.
The species name/epithet is Latin for "chamberlain", referring to the character of the Chamberlain from The Dark Crystal, which it resembles.
(You may also notice a punny reference to a certain beaky head of state who ceded part of his dominion.)
Looks like a two-man Dippy Bird costume. I'd go with slippered tipper for a nickname.
Whittonia neoaptera
Sorry... without "h"!!!!!!
Wittonia neoaptera
Caelicasus digitigradus
"Fall (casus) from the sky (caeli-)", "walking (gradus) on toe (digiti-)"
Since Nephil means also the "fallen one", it's a good equivalent. I liked it.
Megistapteryx caelicasa
"Biggest wingless"
Titanopelargon naishi
Titan Stork (pelargo-)-like being (-on)
Pelargodraco ambulator
Stork-Dragon
Shemhazai ressurrectus
Shemhazai, the leader of the Fallen Angels; ressurrectus = ressurrectes.
Inconcinnius misfortunus -- "unfortunate klutz" (L. inconcinnus = awkward, inelegant; L. mis- = bad; L. fortuna = luck, chance. Named because the taxon lost the elegant and beautifully efficient locomotory style of flight in favor of the far less elegant bumbling around on the ground.
Also possible entry with same intended meaning (but more complex root words): Maladroitius misfortunus.
The reference to the Hieronymus Bosch monsters is also brilliant!
Combining two of the names, I sugest too
NEPHIL HIERONYMIBOSCHI
There's no such Latin prefix MIS-. Mis- is English.
Heh, I often have difficulty spelling the word inexorable.
Rukhazhdarchis potenscrassus - Roc azhdarchid with the mighty beak
I like to create names...
PTOSIMANGELUS BOSCHIANUS
ptosimos "fallen", Angelus "angel", Bosch
Hevi onatoppus
Yes, but it's ultimately derived from the Latin minus. So what's the Latin word for "misfortune," then? (I couldn't find one...) Would it be Inconcinnius afortuna? I'd be happy with that.
Hellasinus innuendus: the nodding donkey from hell...or Greece...
misfortune = infortunatus
I have no idea about the second name, perhaps boschii, as a homage to Hieronymus Bosch...
Geopteron sp.
Geodraco sp.
Carniciconia sp.
Perhaps Innuendus asinus is a bit more euphonious, though it brings to mind someone you might meet at a bar.
Bucorvomimus gigas, the giant ground hornbill mimic.
Hey, works with your pterosaur article, don't it?
I like the Dark Crystal reference, but land striders are boring!
Skeksisia hensoni For The Win!
How many names am I allowed to come up with?
Man that was a nice pastime... but how nasty that all the obvious ones are taken. Anyway, I decided to submit Chthonostibes ptychocheirus, i.e. "earth walker with folded hand". (Yes I know it's actually the finger, but ptychodactylus was taken too).
Not sure about the euphony, but at least in English one can 'silence' some of the consonants.
How about dixoni for the species as a nod to Dougal "After Man/New Dinosaurs" Dixon?
How's about Apterocursor macrorocephalus-the big-headed wingless runner?
Pedefingosomnius porrovisus; the "walking fiction-dream with the long face"
Cateiarostrum tenuocorpus
Hastatus grallator
Zurapha gigas
"Cateia" is a type of spear, so it's basically "spear-beak thin-body"
"Hastatus" refers to Roman infantry and grallator is "stilt-walker" (it is already a genus name, however)
Zurapha is the Arabic word from which giraffe originated, and it means tall.
Pterocursor sumi "Sumi's running wing"
Sumi, one of the mascots of the 2010 Vancouver olympics/paralympics, is part bear part thunderbird. A little childish perhaps but I thought it was cute and a way to honor paralympians.
It may have lost the ability to fly, but it can still run.
Tellurazhdarcho hallucinomorphus, "hallucination-form earth azhdarchid".
How about we never EVER acknowledge one of Dixon's horrifying creatures with a binomial reference?
*thinks back to "The New Dinosaurs"*
*shudders*
cornu crassum would mean "thick horn"... does it mean "beak", too?
Wow! That's great, because the pt- part is related to flying (I don't know if that's the case in Greek itself, though, or only in other Indo-European languages).
Really? Because we have it in German, too.
If named after Greece, it'd have to begin with Hellado-. And isn't the other word innuens?
That's "misfortunate".
fingo means "I invent". somnus alone (note absence of i) would suffice.
That's not "big-headed", it's "big-mouthed", which is even better.
Then why write it with ph?
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OK. Let's go with Ptosimangelus hieronymi.
Wise words.
Ornithopsis hulkei. Oh, wait, already been done...
Zurafa would work too, I'll admit I obtained Zurapha from wikipedia :/
Arvocursor antaeus would be "plains-walker" (I think). "Antaeus" fits because he was a legendary giant that was strong as long as he touched the ground and never went into the air, which definitely fits our guy :)
How about Hughsis piceanseris for Howard Hughes's Spruce Goose?
Azhdarchismok pelargos
"stork-like anhdarchid dragon" Smok - dragon in several Slavic languages
Blogospherodactylus atrox
"terrible finger from blogosphere"
Dinodododraco blogovox
"terrible dodo dragon voiced upon a blog"
Splendodidus dracododo
"magnificent dodo - dragon dodo"
Marabudraco magnificens
"magnificent marabou-dragon"
PS. My Latin is non-existent.
Kind of off-topic question, here. How many pterodactyloids had parasagittal hindlimb postures? In Anhanguera, the femur is offset, and the limbs sprawl pretty significantly. Looks like azhdarchids got around that problem, but did any other groups?
"Vanapteryx terrestris", "Useless wing of the land".
"Vanapteryx icarii", "Useless wing of Icarus".
"Vanapteryx wilburii", that one to honour Wilbur Wright.
"Vanapteryx hypothetica", well... that's obvious.
I don't speak latin, so those names should be checked.
Just realized it would probably be Ziraafa gigas if spelled correctly.
> Gunnodoyak hippocamelus, n. g. et n. sp.
- ETYMOLOGY
> Gunnodoyak = young helper of the Iroquois' god of thunder Hinun/Hino. Hinun took him up into his kingdom, armed him, and sent him to fight the Big Water/Great Lake Snake/Reptile which devours mankind. Gunnodoyak himself was devoured but Hinun and his warriors killed the Snake, recovered Gunnodoyak and took him back to heaven.
> G. hippocamelus = half horse, half camel; mythological animal; see Aus. Ep. 70, 9.
A perfect geomyhtological nomenclature for a flightless azhdarchid pterosaur.
Zburator is a legendary Romanian dragon, and it's fitting cause it rhymes with a few cool specific names like
Zburator percussor (Dragon assassin) or
Zburator provocator (Dragon challenger)
It is not often that there is a pterosaur between me and my bed, but I couldn't help coming back with a Latin one:
Tollenonicollis frustra-volucer 'winged-in-vain crane-neck' (crane the machine, not the bird). There are precedents for posh hyphenated names, although only plants come to mind.
Other possibilities are Tollenonia collectrix 'crane-like gatherer', Trabicollis errabundus 'wandering beam-neck', given that they probably had to walk a lot to get a beakful.
Or:
Kongamatosomnius grallator
Stilt-walking Kongamato dream"?
BTW, Strange why of all names, its Uzbek azhdarch what caught up in paleo world. Hard to pronounce and I'm afraid Uzbeks may write it differently.
What about names with ...gad (Polish for reptile), ...zmej (Russian for mythical snake king), ...long (Chinese for dragon) or ...draak (Dutch for dragon)?
Gralligad geobates?
"Stilted reptile running on earth"
Clyde
Sorry... binomial...
Pterosaurus apterosaurus (clyde)
If we can do multiple entries, then possibly Erichthonios dirarum. Erichthonios (spelled this way because Erichthonius seems to be preoccupied by a crustacean) was a half-reptilian earth-being in Greek mythology. "Dirarum" means "of the Dirae", a Roman name for the Furies, who were chthonic beings with snake associations themselves.
Oh and sorry for multiple entries. I'm only assuming that's allowed.
Ambulapteryx naishi
Uranopeton pelargoides
Essentially from Greek meaning fallen from the heavens and stork-form.
Quote:
BTW, Strange why of all names, its Uzbek azhdarch what caught up in paleo world. Hard to pronounce and I'm afraid Uzbeks may write it differently.
What about names with ...gad (Polish for reptile), ...zmej (Russian for mythical snake king), ...long (Chinese for dragon) or ...draak (Dutch for dragon)?
A big part of it has to do with Azhdarcho being discovered in Uzbekistan and the first Azhdarchid after 'Titanopteryx' to be found to belong to a different clade of pterosaurs, but since 'Titanopteryx' was pre-occupied, 'Titanopterygidae' fell out of favour and Azhdarchidae is now used for them. Yes, the Uzbeks do spell the name differently, it's Ajdarxo, Nesov's spelling is because he used Cyrillic to Latin transliteration for the Russian alphabet on the Uzbek alphabet. Also, Ajdarxo is not the Uzbek word for dragon, it is the name of a specific dragon from Uzbex mythology. It seems everybody gets this wrong and it is probably the second main reason for palaeontologists sticking 'azhdarcho' into the names of various azhdarchids, the first being unoriginality.
"Long" does appear in a number of names here and there, it seems to be becoming something of a trend already.
That brings me to a little rant. I'm a fan of going back to the old Greek and Latin names, it forces people to be decriptive in their choices and is less susceptible to trends (Montanazhdarcho, Eoazhdarcho, Bennettazhia, grrrr...) than some snazzy new name from some language that is generally unused in nomenclature which really derives from a term that is horribly generic in said language. Like Mei long, a genus name meaning sleep. It will make little sense if a new specimen is ever found that is not in a sleeping position, and will make very little sense if a new species is found that is given a descriptive specific name as opposed to a simple and generic noun.
People, nomenclature is boring stuff when you get into it and mainly serves so that people can know what they are talking about, so I can understand the desire to have something new-like in the mix, but please, give a name that means something and which doesn't make people with even remote abounts of linguistics knowledge gag.
If anyone on earth gives anything one of the following names I am going to declare it the duty of humanity to find the person who gave it beaten the character to a pulp: Dactylodactylus dactylus, Saurosaurus sauriscus, Pteropterus pterus, or Rhynchorhynchus rhynchoides.
So I take it you take issue with Tiktaalik roseae?
(Tiktaalik is one Inuktitut-dialect name for the present-day burbot.)
The ultimate name in that style might be Dirudirusdirigor diadiripidiri.
"Director of terrible destroyers with a through-ripping neck".*
Now someone just needs to find a specimen to give this jewel of a name to. Preferably something tiny and inoffensive. {mad scientist mode} Hey, can't it be given twice - once to an animal and once to a plant? Bwwaahhahahahah.... {/ mad scientist mode}
Can we call the flightless pterosaur this?
*From diruo - destroy, diripio - tear apart, dirigo - direct, dirus - terrible, and the Greek roots dia - through and the "dir" root meaning neck in Ornithodira.
Biggus Dickus
Ciconiamimus careovolans (Flightless Stork-imitator)
Genus name derived from:
Ciconia is a genus of birds in the stork family
Mimus meaning "mimic", as found in the ornithomimids.
Species name derived from:
careo, carere, carui, caritus V (2nd) 2 1 [XXXAO]
be without/absent from/devoid of/free from; miss; abstain from, lack, lose;
volatus, volatus N (4th) M 4 1 M [XXXDX]
flight;
Argeiphontes as either the genus name or the specific epithet.It's the most common epithet for Hermes in the Homeric epics. Hermes is regularly depicted as having wings on his feet. It refers to Hermes's giant-killing reputation.
The English prefix mis- is entirely Germanic and has no connection to Latin minus: compare German miss- as in missverstehen 'misunderstand'.
For pure flow and allusion, I love Keesey's original Terrambulator skeksis.
I would like to note that if I recall correctly, the Biblical "nephil" may derive from Hebraic "naphal" (to fall), as derived from Aramaic "nphal" (fall, it falls), and "nephel" (untimely ended, fallen, aborted). I'm not sure the connotation here is one who has fallen, but survives.... The Hebrew nephilim were supposedly unredeemable, and the Biblical inferrence may raise hairs.
A little surprised some of these weren't taken:
Chamaeazhdarcho pelargodes (Greek) 'stork-like ground-Azhdarcho'
Chamaedraco heleiobates (Greek) 'marsh-walking ground-dragon'
Pelargotitan altigradiens (Greek/Latin) 'high-stepping stork-giant'
Lucifer ambulator
(the walking fallen angel)
(I really have no idea whether this is latin or not, probably it ain't but I know no shame if the price is right).
Darrendactylus naishi (I'm told flattery works)
Geodactylus giraffoides (giraffe-like earth-finger)
Apteranodon cursor (wingless toothless runner; references Pteranodon)
... and because I'm in a silly mood:
Peterosaurus dyslecticus (commemorating the fact I used to believe that pterosaurs were named for someone called Peter)
It's decent Latin (you might want ambulans "walking" instead of ambulator "walker") but unfortunately Lucifer is preoccupied by a crustacean.
Much obliged Andreas
Maybe terralucifer, hmmm pseudolucifer, nay
ah
Then I will call it "Luciferphagus (?) ambulans"
(wandering fallen angel eater)
Now I'm pretty sure Luciferphagus is not proper latin. But again when they scream jump, I scream back how high !
(Thanks for the tip (ambulans) Andreas
Well, Megadodo got my vote :)
or something like Archeocasoar, or the latin for "unuseful long finger"
Damn - someone has already come up with Ambulapteryx which is for all practical purposes the same as my idea Ambulopteryx ('walking wing'), which to me seems the obvious choice for a flightless pterosaur that uses it's forelimb in walking.
'Gradopteryx' - would I think mean the same thing, but doesn't sound as pleasant.
Both these mix Latin with Greek -which is permitted, but seriously goes against the grain.
'Peripatopteryx' would be 'walking wing' entirely in Greek. Not as easy as Ambulopteryx, but could be the basis of a good tongue-twister. - 'The portly peripatatory Peripatopteryx perambulated precarioulsy past the precipice' - needs a bit of work, but try it very fast after about 4 pints of a decent beer.
The Latin for wing doesn't work well for a purely Latin version.
All things considered I think Ambulopteryx / Ambulapteryx is the most euphonius despite being a Latin-Greek hybrid. I would go for Ambulopteryx, because the 'apteryx' bit of Ambulapteryx could be taken to mean 'without wing' (resulting in it being read as 'walking without wing') which is not what is intended.
Having said that it is longtime since I did Latin classes (kids today don't even have compulsory Latin lessons! - what is the world coming too?) - and my Greek was only very basic and koine not classical - so there may well be mistakes here.
For the specific name, maybe 'altus' (high/tall), or maybe something based on 'geranos' (Grk: crane) or 'pelargos' (Grk: stork).
Masao - 'naishi' was a shameless attempt to bias the judge - how could you do that? and more to the point, why did no one else think of it? ;)
The use of nephil is interesting, but while the derivation is from the Hebrew for fall, I thought most sources interpret the word 'nephilim' (plural) as meaning 'those who cause others to fall' or 'fellers' rather than 'fallen'.
Hmm... maybe our gracious host should consider numbered comments?
That's because the ICBN is a lot more liberal wrt hyphens than the ICZN; frustra-volucer would have to be amended to frustravolucer under the later.
If you put in a connecting o - Luciferophagus - you have a perfectly passable Graeco-Latin compound.
@Mike Hanson
I thought it might be practical to name taxons with fixed ending to give idea what they belong to. X-saurus is used for extinct reptiles (so many people find Basilosaurus confusing), X-dactylus is for pterosaurs etc. You still have infinite possibilities in the first half of generic name.
you know what's coming....
Ropen ropen.
That's because the zoological code has abolished the hyphen, except in names that refer to the shapes of letters (like c-album "white C").
I do -- because the first e and the a in roseae are the same thing.
Camelopardalopelargos apteryx
Non-winged giraffe-stork.
(I think, I haven't studied classics for a while)
maestitiavolatus
or in english Dejected Flyer
Cameloparderodius decasus
Camelopardus "giraffe"; herodius "heron"; decasus "fallen"
Terradactylus aragorn
"Earth Finger/Strider"
Actually, that would be Terradactylus telcontar.
As the decision is not yet in, I'd like to use two more inches of internet space to suggest Spathops cyphagogus 'swordblade-face walking with lowered head'. Not that this animal had any reason to be ashamed, mind (kufagogos denoted a kind of horse's gait).
Despite some similar ethymologies have been proposed...
Apterodactylus naishi
(Naish' Finger without wing)
Reference to Pterodactylus
Ambulodactylus longirostris; Terrestridraco imperialis; Brachiopteryx inenarrabilis
Thought of one or two more:
Doratops eleutherodactylus (Greek) 'free-fingered spear-face'
Pelargopelor catabeblemenus (Greek) 'downcast stork-monster' (the genus name has an interesting rhythm to it, and the species name is in line with the fallen angel theme)
Also, while Lucifer itself is preoccupied, the Greek equivalent Phosphoros appears not to be.
Crap. Just looked up Greek pelor again and realized it's neuter. I hereby amend my last entry to:
Pelargopelor catabeblemenum
"The use of nephil is interesting, but while the derivation is from the Hebrew for fall, I thought most sources interpret the word 'nephilim' (plural) as meaning 'those who cause others to fall' or 'fellers' rather than 'fallen'."
If you look back to my original suggestion, I addressed this. I think the word can be used as a double entendre, where both meanings are appropriate. "Feller" seems to be the original meaning, but it's picked up another connotation over the millennia.
(Feller? He ain't no feller o' mine!)
Well, I can't speak Latin, but I believe Camelodraco ciconimimus would mean "stork-mimic camel-dragon"
Other ideas:
Brontociconia (thunder-stork)
Barociconia (heavy-stork)
Geopteryx (land-wing?)
Ornithogiraffa/ Avigiraffa (bird-giraffe)
Brachiopteryx (arm-wing)
Ciconiidraco (stork-dragon)
How can I say "non-flying", avolans???
Bibulaves ebriolus (thirsty-bird that is tipsy) [a reference to dippy birds]
Machaeros mucronis (sword-mouth sharp point)
Capillatus pennipes (Hairy wing-footed)
Advenaves venustus (Foreign lovely bird)
Ciconimimus dinosaurophagus
I am impressed by the flood of Latin and Greek. I was thinking more along the lines of Pterosaur nosoar.
@Mark Lees
I used "apteryx" because I thought that upper and lower arm bones without a membrane weren't a wing. Anyway, I stole the idea for the name from Ambulocetus.
I added "naishi" because I've seen (not written) so many manuscripts in which the authors try to flatter the reviewers by mentioning their names and studies prominently in the discussion. I thought it was good for a laugh!
any Thanks to Andreas and Dr.Nick
Then mine shall be
"Luciferophagus/Phosphorus ambulans"
(Wandering eater of fallen angels/the wandering fallen Angel)
I know it doesn't make much sense but who knows maybe it's diet subsisted out of dying or decaying little flying 'dragons' and unlucky individuals of the emerging flocks of dinosaur birds. Masbe it even stood on the beach catching a flying fish of two just for fun.
Wow maybe I shall follow a latin course somewhere. When I was young, incredible handsome and somewhat innocent I dreaded school nowadays I can study just whatever I want.
I get the distinct impression that the whole Hebrew part of the Bible consists mostly of doubles-entendres and other puns.
neil gets my vote for the position of Official Cryptozoological Namer, despite that I find Katharine's "Megadodo" irresistable. Perhaps "Innuendus asinus" could get a "mega" implanted somewhere.
.. and 100! I win!
Will this be (Specworld's) Gigantala's flightless descendant. Saw a post somewhere that they intend to change a portion of the site...
...imagine having to kill off azhdarchs...
ugh... *slaps self*
didn't read the latest post on this topic... please accept my sincere apologies.
I liked Tash (as a name I mean!) and the Skeksis/Landstrider idea too. This certainly seems a creature suited to a fantasy world of the imagination.
Roc orc?
Orc roc?
(for the creature's everyday common name?(combining Sinbad's giant bird and Tolkien's nasty goblins, and 'cos I love anagrams)...
...to be classicised perhaps as genus 'Rocorca'?
(the ending nicely suggests killer whales; another of Darren's blog-topics here, and appropriate too for azhdarchids' size and assumed predatory habits).
I thought I had read that nephilim, plural of nephel, means 'cloud-born (ones)'...
But I (or someone) may have got Hebrew from Genesis 6:4 mixed up with Greek: Aristophanes' play The Birds features as setting Nephelokokkygia (or Nephelococcygia), "Cloudcuckooland".
So how about naming your pterosaur 'Rocorca nephelococcygia'?
(Giant Bird-Goblin-(whale of a)Monster, from Cloudcuckooland?)
I know the contest is over since a long time, but I just wanted to add another idea for a name:
"Titanoicarus deastrum" = Titanic Icarus (because Icarus did fly to near to the sun and his wings melted and he fall down to the ground) which came down from the sky.