Scientific names

Accounts and photos of non-captive reptiles in their natural habitat in South Africa. Try to record with your account details such as time of day/night, temperature, weather conditions, lunar cycle, sex, rough age of reptile, and so on.

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Scientific names

Postby Daniellouw » Fri Apr 12, 2013 11:21 am

I would like to ask some help with a project I am busy with. Does anyone know if there is a reference book/website or other that gives you the direct translation of a scientific name? Most of us know that dendroaspis polylepis is a black mamba. If it is directly translated, it means "large scaled tree living asp". The problem is that not all the names are from Latin, so it is difficult to find some meanings. If anybody knows of a reference, I would really appreciate a reply.
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Re: Scientific names

Postby nbdreyer » Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:38 pm

Hi Danie. Your best bet would be to contact a university/museum with a natural science department. If you are lucky they might have a person there, dealing with classifying new species, and they might direct you to such references. The JLB Smith Institute comes to mind.....
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Re: Scientific names

Postby Mitton » Fri Apr 12, 2013 1:09 pm

www.moreliapythons.co.za
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