List of unusual biological names

This is a list of unusual biological names, given to biological inventions and discoveries. One might consider the listed names unusual due to their containing pop culture references or puns.

Genes and proteins
In the early days of genomics, genes were often given creative names upon discovery. A nomenclature committee later established naming guidelines, but several early names remain.

Controversies
Unusual names have caused issues for scientists explaining genetic diseases to lay-people, such as when an individual is affected by a gene with an offensive or insensitive name. This has particularly been noted in patients with a defect in the sonic hedgehog gene pathway and the disease formerly named CATCH22 for "cardiac anomaly, T-cell deficit, clefting and hypocalcaemia for chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletions". This name was abandoned due to the no-win connotations.

In 1993 Alfonso Martinez Arias, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, was ordered to change the name of the gene he had discovered, VELCRO, because of copyright issues with Velcro. The gene was renamed to puckered. In 2005, Pokémon threatened to sue the discoverer of POKEMON because the name was attracting attention when its link to the development of cancer was published.

Molecules

 * Moronic acid, a natural triterpene
 * Traumatic acid, a monounsaturated dicarboxylic acid naturally occurring in plants

Species
Some species with unusual scientific names, because of length, repetition, or origin or meaning of name, include:

Some species with unusual biological common names include:
 * Aha ha
 * Anableps anableps
 * Ba humbugi
 * Bidens hyperborea
 * Boops boops
 * Crikey steveirwini
 * Cyrtodactylus australotitiwangsaensis
 * Foa fo
 * Gorilla gorilla gorilla
 * Griseotyrannus aurantioatrocristatus
 * Hotwheels sisyphus
 * Ia io
 * Megaloblatta longipennis
 * Mini ature, Mini mum, and Mini scule
 * Myxococcus llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogochensis
 * Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides
 * Pinus rigida
 * Penstemon whippleanus
 * Spongiforma squarepantsii
 * Turdus maximus
 * Dziwneono


 * A.E.E.C.L.'s sportive lemur
 * Bony-eared assfish
 * E.T. sponge
 * Slippery dick
 * Happy Eddie, a species of shark
 * Mountain chicken, a species of frog

Techniques

 * Chromatin Interaction Analysis by Paired-End Tag Sequencing (ChIA-PET) is a technique to determine chromatin interactions which shares a name with Chia Pets.


 * GluSnFR (Glutamate-sensitive fluorescent reporter ) ("glue-sniffer") is a genetically engineered protein used to monitor glutamate release into the synapse.


 * KINC ("Kink") is a computer program used to generate co-expression networks


 * SHREC (single-molecule high-resolution colocalization) ("Shrek") is a modified labeling technique named after a titular character in the movie Shrek. Its older sister technique FIONA is still used as well.


 * CRISPy TAKO (CRISPR Turbo Accelerated KnockOut) ("crispy taco") is a gene knockout technique useful for in vivo reverse genetic screens.