Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Latin and Greek

Posted by Stephen R on 14-10-2009 17:51
#1

Is there an entomological equivalent to WT Stearn's classic book Botanical Latin? I find my early training in classical Latin and Greek quite useful in interpreting scientific names, but as in botany some root words have acquired specialised meanings they didn't have in the days of Cicero and Pliny. Many are obvious (cornu = antenna) though some take a bit of getting used to: Greek pous, pod- and Latin pes, ped- 'foot' are used in entomology for the whole leg (Dolichopus, flavipes) whereas cheir and manus 'hand' refer as one would expect to the tarsus only (Platycheirus, albimanus).

I thought it might be entertaining to have a thread for discussing the derivation of scientific names, so here are two questions to kick off with:

1: What does Calliphora mean?

2: Which Latin and Greek words are used to refer to the halteres?

Edited by Stephen R on 14-10-2009 17:52