User:Manudouz/sandbox/Taxonomic anagrams



List of taxa named by anagrams.

In the biological nomenclature codes, an anagram can be used to name a new taxon. A taxonomic anagram is therefore a new taxon name constructed from rearranging the letters of an existing name.

Wordplays are one source of inspiration allowing organisms to receive scientific names. In the binominal nomenclature, as scientists have latitude in naming genera and species, a taxon name can therefore be an anagram, provided it remains pronounceable. 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.

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.