Latin Name...what does it mean?

[Dryftwood]

Sorry for the noob question, but I AM a noob and recently got an "Avicularia sp.", or Peruvian Purple Pinktoe... what does the "sp." mean as oppose to say Avicularia Metallica?

 

[skippy]

it means that the species name isn't known or that it hasn't been classified yet.

 

[Bill S]

"sp" just means species. Avicularia sp means "a species of Avicularia". By itself it doesn't mean "unknown" or "undescribed" - but it is a common way of listing an unknown or undescribed species. Sometimes the shorthand "sp" is used when discussing animals where it is not necessary to list the species. For example, if you are discussing Aphonopelmas in general, it's not necessary to list each species of Aphonopelma - easier to just refer to the collectively as Aphonopelma spp.

 

[Jjpth]

"sp" just means species. Avicularia sp means "a species of Avicularia". By itself it doesn't mean "unknown" or "undescribed" - but it is a common way of listing an unknown or undescribed species. Sometimes the shorthand "sp" is used when discussing animals where it is not necessary to list the species. For example, if you are discussing Aphonopelmas in general, it's not necessary to list each species of Aphonopelma - easier to just refer to the collectively as Aphonopelma spp.

Thanks Bill, you broke it down well.. I was also wondering

 

[Bill S]

I guess there's another detail that I can add here. The OP didn't ask it, but someone probably would before long. Sometimes you'll see "sp" used in conjunction with a geographical name, such as Holothele sp "Tachira". In this case it refers to a collecting site. In the example I used, the spider would be a species of Holothele that was collected in the Tachira region of Venezuela. There's a similar animal called Holothele sp "Norte de Santander", which is a Holothele species collected just across the border in the Norte de Santander region of Colombia. There is speculation that both of these animals may be the same species, but so far nobody has done the taxonomic work to identify/describe the species involved.

 

[starlight_kitsune]

"sp" just means species. Avicularia sp means "a species of Avicularia". By itself it doesn't mean "unknown" or "undescribed" - but it is a common way of listing an unknown or undescribed species. Sometimes the shorthand "sp" is used when discussing animals where it is not necessary to list the species. For example, if you are discussing Aphonopelmas in general, it's not necessary to list each species of Aphonopelma - easier to just refer to the collectively as Aphonopelma spp.

Thank you for clarifying! I've been wondering about the difference between sp. and spp.

I'm also pretty new to Ts and still learning/