this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2026
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I have no idea on why they decided to call the common European frog Rana temporaria, but "temporary frog" sounds really funny. "Eh this species name is just temporary, I swear".
I'm also kind of surprised I couldn't find a single species called merdicula (little shit). Seems like the sort of humour some would have.
Pretty sure that temporaria is related in this case to temporal, not temporary. It'd be like frog of the times or frog of the right season or something like that.
I could be wrong though.
As for little shits I would try something with copro- in it. That's the greek word for shit. Like coprophage is a shiteater or Copromorphidae are a family of moths that have shit like camouflage.
I’m still a huge fan of fruit flies. Drosophila melanogaster= yellow bellied garbage lover
Black bellied, but yeah!
Temporal: that would explain it. But it still sounds funny.
Copromorphidae: I stand corrected. Shit-shaped moths!
I also found a frog called Allobates niputidea. That's from Spanish though, not Latin. (ni puta idea = no fucking idea.)
Looking for the backstory of the frog name, here's another gem from here.
Zoologists are fun.