What’s in a name?

What do David Bowie, Spongebob Squarepants and the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings have in common?

Weird though it may seem, all three had the honour — perhaps dubious — of a scientist converting their name into Latin and naming a newly discovered species after them.

David Bowie’s namesake is a large, yellow spider; Spongebob Squarepants has been immortalized by a type of mushroom that looks like a sponge; and the Eye of Sauron’s name went to a prehistoric meat-eating dinosaur.

So, could there be a student in a biology class somewhere in Sudbury who’ll name a species someday and perhaps immortalize a childhood hero? Yes, if they become a biologist or hunt for fossils, they certainly could.

In fact, it’s a good bet that some species out there have already been named by biologists who were students in Sudbury — if you know of one, send me a message.

When a new fossil or living organism is discovered, scientists look at its appearance, behaviour and DNA to help determine its relation to species we already know. They have to follow strict international guidelines to make sure what they have found is really new. Their work is not complete until the new name and description of the species are published in a scientific journal.

The scientific name of a species is made up of two words: the generic name and the species name.

Many species can share the same generic name. Your family dog, Canis familiaris, shares its generic name of Canis with the grey wolf, Canis lupus, because they’re closely related.

The second part of the name is unique to the species. Add the word familiaris to Canis and scientists instantly know that you are referring to Spot the domesticated dog and not a grey wolf.

Finding a name means you need to brush up on your Latin. Latin has been used for 350 years and allows scientists to discuss species without worrying about language barriers. A dog becomes un chien in French, but its scientific name always remains Canis familiaris.

Let’s go back to our Eye of Sauron dinosaur to learn more about the naming process. The dinosaur’s proper name is Sauroniops pachytholus. Sauroniops means “eye of Sauron” and pachytholus means “thick dome.”

Why did researchers choose a literary villain to describe their dinosaur?

Well, scientific names are often used to describe something about a species. In our dinosaur’s case, scientists only found one part of the animal’s skeleton — a thick piece of the upper skull including the eye socket. That was enough to show that its owner was an enormous meat-eater that may have rivalled Tyrannosaurus rex in size.

Its eye socket reminded the scientists of the monstrous fiery eye villain of the Lord of Rings books and films. So, Sauroniops it was.

Scientists have named about 1.3 million species. Estimates for how many more there are range from 3 million to 100 million, and that doesn’t include fossils. There’s lots more naming to be done: good news for villains of blockbuster films and a challenge for Sudbury biology students.

We have no prizes, but we’d love to start a roll of honour.

Grace Hunter is a student in the Laurentian University/Science North graduate program in Science Communication. She’d really like to know of any high school students from Sudbury who’ve gone on to name a new species.