What's in a Name?
River Dolphins | Harlequin Frogs | Piranhas
The scientific names of the various river dolphins have diverse origins and reflect several of the various ways that scientists form these terms. The pink, or Amazona, river dolphin's genus name, Inia, is based on the name given to the dolphin by local people in Bolivia, while the species name geoffrensis is a tribute to the French naturalist Etienne Geoffroy St. Hilaire.
The Yangtze River dolphin's name, by contrast, is Lipotes vexillife. Lipotes is from the Latin, leipo, meaning left behind. This may refer to its river distribution in general, or to the fact that its type locality—the origin of the specimen on which the original description was based—was 600 miles up the Yangtze River, very far inland. Vexillifer is from the Latin vexill, meaning banner or flag, possibly a description of the dolphin's high dorsal fin.
The Ganges and Indus river dolphins share the genus name Platanista, which comes from the family name, Platanistidae. The term Platanistidae, whose meaning is lost, was used by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, written in Rome in the first century. Pliny wrote: Within Ganges, a river of India, there be fishes snouted and tailed as Dolphins, 15 cubits long, which they call Platanistæ. (Pliny assembled his facts from many diverse and often questionable sources. Clearly, reports of the dolphins' size became exaggerated in their passage from India to Rome. Fifteen cubits is about 22 feet, but in fact they measure from about six to ten feet in length.) The Ganges River dolphin's species name, P. gangeticus, indicates where these animals were found, while the Indus River dolphin, named about 50 years later, was dubbed P. minor, as it was thought these dolphins were smaller than the Ganges form.
Susan Lumpkin
From the September/October 2003 issue of ZooGoer
The 44-plus species of harlequin frogs are easily the jesters of the Central and South American amphibian court. For one thing, these so-called frogs are actually toads. And they can be easily confused with dart-poison frogs because they sport brightly colored smooth skin, and produce highly toxic skin secretions. But harlequin frogs intrigue herpetologists for other reasons: They have a Bidder’s organ, a rudimentary gland that enables males to develop functioning ovaries if their testicles are removed; and they exhibit "transsexual calling talents"—meaning both sexes are able to call during breeding season. Furthermore, tadpoles hatch about 24 hours after the females lay their egg strands.
ZooGoer 30(3) 1999. Copyright 1999 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved
Few animals have as ferocious a reputation as piranhas (genus Serrasalmus), freshwater fish found in the tropics of South America. The name, inspired by the piranhas' razor-sharp triangular teeth, comes from the Portuguese piro for "fish," and sainha for "tooth." Piranhas are also known locally as caribe, derived from the Carib, an indigenous group for which the Caribbean Sea was named. Columbus also reported hearing the feared Carib tribe in Cuba called Canibaliterally, "strong men"and indeed believed this group to be cannibals.
Like their tribal namesakes, piranhas have long been thought to eat humans. However, reports of the man-eating fishnot to mention the man-eating menare greatly exaggerated. Most of the more than 20 species of piranhas found in the Amazon are omnivorous, eating both seeds as well as the meat of other fishes or wounded animals who stray into the water. Even the most blood-thirsty piranhas, however, cannot eat an entire animal by themselves; instead they merely nip off scales or bits of flesh. And only when herded together by low waters during the dry season will most species of piranha congregate in large schools, the only time when healthy mammals (and humans) need fear treading in rivers and lagoons. The one exception is the caju (Serrasalmus nattereri), which does frequently form large schools. The caju is the most publicized piranha species, helping to spread misconceptions about this widely varied fish.
—Katie Venit and Alex Hawes
ZooGoer 29(4) 2000. Copyright 2000 Friends of the National Zoo. All rights reserved.
