Linnaean Binomial Names for Magical Creatures!

[PeelTheMango]

So basically the premise here is that, as a biology nerd, it has become my goal to come up with binomial names (based on real world taxonomic classifications) for the fun crazy critters on here and because this would be a daunting undertaking alone I've decided to enlist the help of all of you good folks on the forums!
So here's how this is gonna go down:
There'll be a post specifically dedicated to a masterlist by number in the Bestiary
Post your ideas for the scientific names of creatures in this thread here
If you think you have a better idea we'll put it to a vote using a strawpoll or something
If you know immediately any based on real world animals (Ex Kiwi bird, Dodo, red panda) please be sure to report those with their actual real world binomial names
Two creatures with different numbers in the Bestiary who can breed together (except in extreme cases like koi fish and ibex, we're talking more like the two colours of winged cat) should be subspecies of the same species

So I'll start it off with one of the Halloween releases, the Alvean Thornweb Spider, which I propose should be given the name Gasteracantha alveus

[PeelTheMango]

Masterlist Post!
Format - "Number [Creature]: Genus species (Contributor)"

1 [Koi Fish]: Cyprinus carpio
13 [Direwolf]: Canis dirus (SynthDetective)
94 [Axolotl]: Ambystoma mexicanum (SynthDetective)
125 [Dodo]: Raphus cucullatus (SynthDetective)
141 [Red Panda]: Ailurus fulgens
154 [Thylacine]: Thylacinus cynocephalus (GoblinShark)
210 [Goldfish]: Carassius auratus (SynthDetective)
739 [Common Borean Wolf]: Canis boreus boreus
740 [Black Borean Wolf]: Canis boreus mavros
741 [White Borean Wolf]: Canis boreus cinereus
742 [Faded Borean Wolf]: Canis boreus leukos
743 [Spotted Borean Wolf]: Canis boreus maculus
823 [Alvean Thornweb Spider]: Gasteracantha alveus

[TheNewBlack]

I like this! I feel like using these names to name my creatures with, lol.

[SynthDetective]

I tried looking for some of the critters based on animals that either have existed or do exist IRL, so if someone could confirm these (bc im no expert on biology) that would be swell. I was just searching through their wikipedia articles, but they're not that unlikely to be incorrect.

13. Direwolf: Canis dirus
94. Axolotl: Ambystoma mexicanum
125. Dodo: Raphus cucullatus
210. Goldfish: Carassius auratus

There are some that also are based on real animals but their Magistream names arent a specific species name but rather a family name, like the moray eel, hummingbird and rockhopper penguin, so i am not sure about those.

[CondorFlight]

Yes I love this so much

[GoblinShark]

I like the idea, though I feel like we should probably give even species that're based on a specific real life species their own name. MS's dodo is pretty different when compared to the real world's for example, and we've split animals into multiple species over things that're a lot less noticeable than magical powers.
Also, it'd probably be just a bit more fun trying to come up with suitable names that fit the critter more than the real equivelant's.

Some more species based on real genera I saw when I scanned a couple tabs in my keep:
Tasharn - Smilodon(?) sp.
Various Krotalo - Crotalus sp.
Maraegian Nizari/Stromeri- Spinosaurus sp.
Dunkleosteus - Dunkleosteus sp.
Dawn/Dusk Hydrosaurus - Hydrosaurus sp.
Tetzcotal Anaconda - Eunectes sp. (Though I'd hazard a guess it's most similar to the green)
Ibex - Capra sp.
Ambula Bat - Desmodus sp.
Most of the horses/unicorns/pegasi would probably be in the genus Equus if the wings/horns/etc. aren't enough to seperate them into their own genera (I'd argue they are, but I'm not some authority, and in a world where magic can alter an animal the blur between these already blurry groups in our world just gets even blurrier ).

and then a couple more species that look pretty close to extant species, where getting below the genus was possible:
Thylacine - Thylacinus cynocephalus
Alasrean Cipetir (Andean Condor) - Vultur gryphus
Sarx Cipetir (King Vulture) - Sarcoramphus papa
Leliyn (Frilled Lizard) - Chlamydosaurus kingii


Related but not really the same topic, but would anyone be interested in constructing a tree of life for the species found on-site? It could be fun to try and take into account the site's lore/critter descriptions, physical descriptions of the sprites, and real world phylogeny.
Fun or incredibly annoying. Could be both.

[PeelTheMango]

In the beginning I was scared that this wouldn't catch on and just sort of fade away into forum obscurity in less than a day but I'm glad some people really like the idea! So far I'm loving all the ideas that have been suggested!
What I'd particularly like to do is explain my idea about the Gemstone Kirins, because that would be a sort of weird case, given that hybrids aren't supposed to be fertile and a lot of the more complicated Gemstone Kirins clearly are. My idea was that they're all one species but with a large number of genes that collectively code for fur/gemstone colour. They'd have about 6 genes that code for colour with 3 or 4 alleles of each of those genes, and the way the alleles interact determine the colours of their fur and gemstones. The more dominant alleles would code for the colours displayed on Opal and Diamond Gemstone Kirins as those are the ones found naturally in the wild, however through selective breeding we've managed to produce a whole slew of colours (Ruby, Tanzanite, Alexandrite, etc).

Tell me what you all think!

PS: Concerning the Cipetirs, because they can both breed together I'd be hesitant to put them in separate genera but rather make them subspecies that evolved due to different habitats
As for the Leliyn, because it says specifically that they're loosely related to dragons I'd like to put some thought into how things like dragons relate to normal reptiles before pseudo-finalizing their taxonomy. I did have some thoughts about that (which the names of my tabs can give you a sneak peek of) which I'll post over the weekend probably because I'm super tired

[TheNewBlack]

I like the idea, though I feel like we should probably give even species that're based on a specific real life species their own name. MS's dodo is pretty different when compared to the real world's for example, and we've split animals into multiple species over things that're a lot less noticeable than magical powers.
Also, it'd probably be just a bit more fun trying to come up with suitable names that fit the critter more than the real equivelant's.

Some more species based on real genera I saw when I scanned a couple tabs in my keep:
Tasharn - Smilodon(?) sp.
Various Krotalo - Crotalus sp.
Maraegian Nizari/Stromeri- Spinosaurus sp.
Dunkleosteus - Dunkleosteus sp.
Dawn/Dusk Hydrosaurus - Hydrosaurus sp.
Tetzcotal Anaconda - Eunectes sp. (Though I'd hazard a guess it's most similar to the green)
Ibex - Capra sp.
Ambula Bat - Desmodus sp.
Most of the horses/unicorns/pegasi would probably be in the genus Equus if the wings/horns/etc. aren't enough to seperate them into their own genera (I'd argue they are, but I'm not some authority, and in a world where magic can alter an animal the blur between these already blurry groups in our world just gets even blurrier ).

and then a couple more species that look pretty close to extant species, where getting below the genus was possible:
Thylacine - Thylacinus cynocephalus
Alasrean Cipetir (Andean Condor) - Vultur gryphus
Sarx Cipetir (King Vulture) - Sarcoramphus papa
Leliyn (Frilled Lizard) - Chlamydosaurus kingii


Related but not really the same topic, but would anyone be interested in constructing a tree of life for the species found on-site? It could be fun to try and take into account the site's lore/critter descriptions, physical descriptions of the sprites, and real world phylogeny.
Fun or incredibly annoying. Could be both.

That would be cool, I was thinking it would be neat to have one big giant picture that depicted all the creatures on Magistream in their natural habitat. Maybe you could make them one and the same thing-a tree of life with a background to match the creature?

[PKGriffin]

(The maraegian stromeri is based on S. aegyptiacus and the nizari is based on S. maroccanus. The names are mash-ups of the two species and the researchers most famous for studying them.)

[Ayakashi]

Funny I started an excel spreadsheet trying to classify creatures on MS. I am a Biologist, so yeah, great minds think alike.
Anyway, haven't worked on the spreadsheet in a while. Started trying to do a general classification of things on sheet 1 first, and do the whole KPCOFGSs on sheet 2, but didn't get very far on sheet 2. You're welcome to play with it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing