Latin/scientific names

A roundabout way

A lot of Latin word elements can be found in English words: undecimpunctata should bring to mind words like decimal, puncture, and unit. Look up the etymology of those words, and at least some of the time it can give you a hint.

In this case, -ata/-atus/-atum is a past participle ending often used to turn verbs into adjectives. There are plenty of technical terms ending in -ate that are derived from Latin words with that ending: if you look up "punctate", you'll find the definition for "punctata"

I've been trying to put etymologies on as many guide pages as I can- a few dozen down, over 20,000 to go...

… Chuck Entz, 25 August, 2009 - 12:08am

Visit Bugguide's glossary

The glossary helps sometimes, for instance:
arcuate - bow-like; linear, and bent like a bow.
We also try to add the etymology of taxonomic names when we can.
Finally, you can consult Jardine's Dictionary of Entomology.

… Beatriz Moisset, 24 August, 2009 - 7:13pm

Seem to remember that this has come up in the forums,

so you should be able to find some threads here on the meanings of the scientific names. In this case undecim is one and ten, or eleven, and punctata is punctate or spotted. So this one is eleven spotted!

… john and jane balaban, 24 August, 2009 - 5:43pm

Yes,

and "diabrotica" can be broken down to "through" + "gnaw".

… Peter W. Messer, 24 August, 2009 - 7:02pm

A good place to start

is within BugGuide here. Also do searches at our website for key word comments like "etymology", "biological", "scientific", and "Latin" "names". Yes, deciphering scientific names is hours of fun.

… Peter W. Messer, 24 August, 2009 - 11:54am

Expensive!

Wow! I just checked Amazon for one of the books mentioned on this site...almost $100.

… Hilma Anderson, 24 August, 2009 - 6:09pm

Jardine's Dictionary of Entomology

I just Googled "Jardine's Dictionary of Entomology" and saved it as a Favorite. Thank you everyone for your help.

… Hilma Anderson, 25 August, 2009 - 11:02am

but the Web is free!

Typing any word plus "etymology" in a search engine yields lots of results - not necessarily all useful or reliable, but that's what the ex-English-major in me thinks is fun to search through :-)

Many books that are out of copyright are free online - big ol' dictionaries from the 1800 and early 1900's have all the Latin- and Greek-derived words that new, expensive dictionaries have. I don't have the bookmark on this computer, but I found an entire entomological dictionary free online - I'll look it up when I get to my office computer.

… Abigail Parker, 24 August, 2009 - 10:20pm