# Scientific Name & Common Name



## nitekram (Mar 21, 2015)

I am new, so not sure if this is looked down on or not, but I found this site, and wanted to make reference here, so that I can use it - or anyone else

Disclamier, since I am new, I am not sure if this list is correct, but I checked a few and they were common

The link




> SCIENTFIC                     	COMMON
> 
> Acanthoscurria Geniculata             Brazilian Giant White Knee
> Acanthoscurria Insutilis              Bolivian White Knee
> ...


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## GG80 (Mar 21, 2015)

Common names tend to be frowned upon simply because there are some species with up to 3 or 4 different 'common' names and it leads to confusion when asking for, or giving advise to someone. When someone uses the Latin names it is easier to know what species he or she is refering to.

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## Graeboe (Mar 21, 2015)

I hate to agree that common names are frowned upon because a lot of the times people new to the hobby have only been exposed to them. But it is not hard to google a scientific name and 99% of anyone who is starting to take the hobby seriously will have looked up the scientific name. Its always good practice to know the scientific side of any hobby that you are starting in. Not only will it help you relate to those who have been doing this long term but it will also help you find more accurate information that you want and need when learning about a new acquisition.

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## nitekram (Mar 21, 2015)

Okay...I do understand the use of the scientific name, but I have found that not everyone uses that name - meaning while doing searches for what certain T's look like - I have found a mixed bag of them labeled
by their common name and scientific name. 

Can someone explain or link me to the abbreviations that I see on this forum or the internet - ie MM, H pulchripes, and M balfouri

What are the one letters used for? What do the longer words represent?

I also sometimes see a latin names followed by 1 or 2 characters ie sp, r, ect.


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## BobGrill (Mar 21, 2015)

They stand for the genus and species name.  Brachypelma smithi. Brachypelma = genus, smithi = species.


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## Blueandbluer (Mar 21, 2015)

nitekram said:


> Okay...I do understand the use of the scientific name, but I have found that not everyone uses that name - meaning while doing searches for what certain T's look like - I have found a mixed bag of them labeled
> by their common name and scientific name.
> 
> Can someone explain or link me to the abbreviations that I see on this forum or the internet - ie MM, H pulchripes, and M balfouri
> ...


MM = Mature male. 

When you see things like G. rosea, that is the abbreviation of the genus name. By convention, it's ok to put the capital first letter of the genus name and follow with the species name. G. rosea would therefore be shorthand for Grammastola rosea, B. smithi for Brachypelma smithi, etc. 

sp is used when the species is unknown either because it is as-yet undescribed by science or because someone isn't sure which species it belongs to, though they may know the genus. So for example you may say Pamphobeteus sp. meaning that you know it's a spider in Pamphobeteus genus but there isn't a species name.


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## BobGrill (Mar 21, 2015)

It's the same for any plant or animal species. That is how scientists classify life forms.


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## Blueandbluer (Mar 21, 2015)

Correct. I know I learned it in 9th grade science, but with education being in the state it's in, who knows what they teach these days...

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## nitekram (Mar 21, 2015)

So there may be many species under each of the genus names? What are the distinctions for the different species - color? And the genus, are they all from the different types of tarantulas? 

"scientists classify life forms"
Similar to: Dog | Lab | Black?


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## awiec (Mar 21, 2015)

BobGrill said:


> It's the same for any plant or animal species. That is how scientists classify life forms.


With plants you get some more complicated stuff cause you have to deal with domesticated lines and hybrids are common (and are welcomed). With spiders just stick to what bob said here as it's much simpler. 

There are some common names used as the spider is very distinct and vast majority of people know what it is such as:
OBT=Orange Bitey Thing/Orange Baboon Tarantula= Red Color Form(RCF) of P.murinus
GBB= Green Bottle Blue= C.cyaneopubescens (This is also the only spider described to this genus)

A lot of slang and lingo you see here is just stuff you have to learn as you spend time here, that is true with any interest and hobby, so don't feel intimidated just read as many threads as you can here. By spending time you learn the personalities here and how the forum generally operates.


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## nitekram (Mar 21, 2015)

Blueandbluer said:


> Correct. I know I learned it in 9th grade science, but with education being in the state it's in, who knows what they teach these days...


I am sure I took at least one science class when I was in school, but, for me, that was a life time ago - 35 plus years lol


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## Blueandbluer (Mar 21, 2015)

nitekram said:


> So there may be many species under each of the genus names? What are the distinctions for the different species - color? And the genus, are they all from the different types of tarantulas?
> 
> "scientists classify life forms"
> Similar to: Dog | Lab | Black?


Ok, quick taxonomy lesson. Let's use cats. House cats are in the genus Felis, along with a lot of other animals, like jungle cats. A house cat's scientific name is Felis catus. The jungle cat's scientific name is Felis chaus. So, same genus, different species = different, but related, animal. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species Animals in the same genus & species can interbreed and create fertile offspring. Animals in the same genus but a different species MAY be capable of interbreeding, but their offspring will almost always be sterile, i.e. unable to breed themselves. An example of this is the mule, which is the offspring of 2 different species, a horse and a donkey. Another example are ligers, the crossbreeding of a tiger with a lion. 

So, you see, species is not determined by color, but genetics. (as a side note, that very misunderstanding has been used by racists claiming that white people are a different species than other humans -- completely factually unfounded.) 

Your dog example is not correct, as "lab" is not a species but a breed. This is evident by the fact that you can take a lab and breed it with a husky and the mutt that results is still fertile. 

For more detail, please read http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_classification.

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## cold blood (Mar 21, 2015)

nitekram said:


> So there may be many species under each of the genus names? What are the distinctions for the different species - color? And the genus, are they all from the different types of tarantulas?
> 
> "scientists classify life forms"
> Similar to: Dog | Lab | Black?


First off, that is not the scientific classification of a lab...lol.

The first letter, which is always capitalized, is the genus.  This is a group of closely related animals.  The second, which is not capitalized, is the species name within the genus.  So when you see P. ornata for instance, you have the genus Poecilotheria, indicating the group of related animals....and ornata, which is the specific species within that genus.  

Learning the scientific names helps you to easily recognize spiders (animals, really) which are related and share common characteristics.  While your common name list may be accurate, its imcomplete as many t's have several different common names (depending on location, as they cross borders of different peoples), while they all only carry one single scientific name.   This surplus of common names per individual is what makes the common name of much less use than the scientific name.

If you come here and say I got a striped knee tarantula, everyone's gonna guess a different species and you'll just end up answering questions as to the species or you will have just created confusion where there should be none.  Scientific names are specific and no animal on the planet has more than one scientific name assigned to it.   

Do yourself a huge favor and learn the scientific.

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## pyro fiend (Mar 21, 2015)

i understand this can be rather confusing to a new comer.. but coldblood hit it on the head.. first leter MUST be capped.. its the genus. whatever folows can be all lower [which would be correct but nowadays a phone capitalizes anything after a period so we forgive them using it wrong lol]

if you dont know what the genus is with that species.. because some share the same first letter.. quick one off the top of the head is Phormictopus, Psalmopeus, Poecilotheria ,Pterinochilus and Pamphobeteus [pretty sure i spelled these right somone quote me if im wrong ill fix it lol] just ask, worst case scenario is we raise an eyebrow.. itl help you learn more and more about T's and the way they evolved with the mor genus you learn about 

but everyone is right.. personally i shun common invert names anymore, so much so i typically wont buy from a person that lists the common name, especially first!.. when i first started reading on T's i was like "sweet this is a gooty.. this is a birdeater and this is a flame leg and thats Goliath... i want those.." yea then look up birdeater.. youl bring up a minimum of seven species.. and on birdeater i can guarantee its minimum 4 genus lol  plus common names are made up as they go.. iv seen avics sold media sites as "cobalt blue" [H. lididum] and a common name like "mexican tarantula" throws me through the wall.. as if there is only one species there -.- GRR lol  learn scientific names.. and please dont turn back XD

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## Poec54 (Mar 21, 2015)

Common names create far more confusion that they do anything else.  The ones who use them are beginners and/or people who know nothing about tarantulas.  If you want to progress in the hobby, you'll want to learn the scientific names.  It's easy enough; we've all managed.

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## cold blood (Mar 21, 2015)

Poec54 said:


> you'll want to learn the scientific names.  It's easy enough; we've all managed.


It can be entertaining as well.  Get a list of a few good dealer sites that have good pics, and go through every one they have and make a "wish list", always paying attention to the scientific names, this will help put "names with faces" so to speak.  It will also expose you to a lot of different species you may not have known or thought much about.  And since most have them listed alphabetically, according to genus, you will be able to see the spiders related to one another al grouped together. (net-bug has really good pics)


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## Sana (Mar 21, 2015)

When I first joined this community, every time I read a scientific name I did a copy/paste into Google and looked up pictures of what folks were talking about.  I still Google a lot for correct spelling of a genus or species that I'm less familiar with.  You wouldn't believe how long it takes to teach a "smart" phone the correct spelling for your favorite tarantula's scientific name.


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## Ripa (Mar 21, 2015)

Maybe it's just me, but in scientific literature, it's a common rule to keep the genus uppercase and the species lowercase when it comes to binomial names. I hate it when the beginning of the species name is capitalized....


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## Poec54 (Mar 21, 2015)

By learning scientific names, you can start to get an understanding of what's related (common names are useless for that).  the next step after that is learning the subfamilies the genera are in, which gives further understanding of relationships.  Go to 'Eight: a Site about Tarantulas' and print off the species lists, they're arranged by subfamily and genus.  Read it a few times, and keep it handy as a reference (I still do).  This will help clarify things for you.

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## lalberts9310 (Mar 22, 2015)

Okay:

M. Balfouri = monocentropus balfouri 

It's just the first letter of the genus name followed by the name of the species

You get different species within a genus:
E.g.

Genus: brachypelmya
Brachypelma species:
B. emilia
B. albopilosum
B. smithi
B. boehmei

Etc.

The next abreviations stands for:

MM: mature male
MF: mature female
AF: adult female
AM: adult male
Sp. : species
NW: new world - tarantula genera from north and south america
OW: old world - tarantula genera from any other part of the world but north and south america
LPS: local pet store/shop
Spec: specimen/species

Common names are useless, they're confusing. Where you need to learn all 4 or 5 common names for a specie, you can learn one scientific name.

E.g.

Common names: 
skeleton leg tarantula
Yellow flame knee tarantula

Scientific name: ephebopus murinus

Now instead of learning two confusing common names, you can learn one scientific name, what is better is when you find another species from the same genera:

Common name: blue fang tarantula

Scientific name: ephebopus cyanognathus

When you familiarised yourself with the previous scientific name it's easier to learn the next one within the same genus. You already know ephebopus murinus, so now you just need to learn cyanognathus because you know it's from the genus ephebopus. You don't have to learn and remember the whole common name/s all over again.

Hope this makes sense

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## GG80 (Mar 22, 2015)

As someone else has said, don't be intimidated by learning the scientific names. It's understandable when someone new to the hobby uses common names as they probably wouldn't have had too much exposure to the scientific names yet. But, as you go further into the hobby and spend more time on this forum, you will realize that learning the scientific names will come naturally and you will want to use them instead of the common names. At least that's what happened with me anyway.

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## Hydrazine (Mar 22, 2015)

In Czech Republic, common names are almost nonexistent.

Too bad the scientific names are often outdated, misspelled or otherwise mangled. 

If I had a euro for every _C.crawshayi, G.aureostriata, L.cristata _ and such...
Been to an expo yesterday, saw the usual. However, there's a spark of hope. I saw ONE stall catching up to the rosea/porteri thing. I could swear I've seen sp.concepción labeled as rosea though. 
There were some _'Paraphysa parvula'_, I expect the scene catch up to the _Paraphysa_ dismantling in two, three years.


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## Poec54 (Mar 22, 2015)

Hydrazine said:


> In Czech Republic, common names are almost nonexistent.
> 
> Too bad the scientific names are often outdated, misspelled or otherwise mangled.
> 
> ...


Even so, outdated scientific names refer to one animal, unlike common names.


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## awiec (Mar 22, 2015)

cold blood said:


> It can be entertaining as well.  Get a list of a few good dealer sites that have good pics, and go through every one they have and make a "wish list", always paying attention to the scientific names, this will help put "names with faces" so to speak.  It will also expose you to a lot of different species you may not have known or thought much about.  And since most have them listed alphabetically, according to genus, you will be able to see the spiders related to one another al grouped together. (net-bug has really good pics)


It's the best way to learn, even now I'll still do it especially with all these cool south american species being brought in lately and I get an idea of price ranges for future purchases


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## Hydrazine (Mar 22, 2015)

Poec54 said:


> Even so, outdated scientific names refer to one animal, unlike common names.


Unless you have 'subspecies' or 'morphs' that get split as separate species..


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## Blueandbluer (Mar 22, 2015)

Hydrazine said:


> Unless you have 'subspecies' or 'morphs' that get split as separate species..


Right. G. rosea, anyone?


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## lalberts9310 (Mar 22, 2015)

nitekram said:


> Okay...I do understand the use of the scientific name, but I have found that not everyone uses that name - meaning while doing searches for what certain T's look like - I have found a mixed bag of them labeled
> by their common name and scientific name.
> 
> Can someone explain or link me to the abbreviations that I see on this forum or the internet - ie MM, H pulchripes, and M balfouri
> ...


I have only done my research using scientific names... gives me more accurate results...

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