Scientific names for scorpions are based on Latin or Greek, but what do they mean? Some names say something about how this special scorpion looks (e.g. flavidulus = yellowish). Others may say something about the scorpion's habitat (e.g. troglodytes = cave dweller) or the scorpions distribution (e.g. ankarana = from the Ankarana Massif, Madagascar). And in some cases the names are eponyms, they are given to commemorate a person (e.g. reini = [editor is blushing furiously]).
Gerard Dupre has now published an impressing list of scorpion taxa names and their meaning. This is an invaluable tool for us wondering all the time about the meaning of the names of our favorite scorpions.
Reference:
Dupre G. Dictionary of scientific scorpion names. Arachnides. 2016(78 Supplément):1-68. [Open Access]
A big thanks to Gerard Dupre for sending me this article, but also for allowing me to include the full text in The Scorpion Files Blog!
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