Plants v. Animals (ICBN v. ICZN)

Some more

Cameraria moths (Gracillariidae) vs. plants (Apocynaceae)
Thrinax sawflies (Tenthredinidae) vs. plants (Arecaceae)
Stigmella moths (Nepticulidae) -- apparently this is a genus of fungi, although I can't find much evidence for it outside of iNaturalist (where the only observations are ones where people intended the moth genus).
All three of these cause frequent confusion on iNaturalist.

… Charley Eiseman, 12 December, 2022 - 8:47am

Stigmella

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigmella_platani-racemosae

https://bladmineerders.nl/parasites/animalia/arthropoda/insecta/lepidoptera/monotrysia/nepticuloidea/nepticulidae/stigmella/stigmella-aurella/

https://hilgardia.ucanr.edu/Abstract/?a=hilg.v14n04p203

Though the picky (or ex biology teachers) among us note these are fungi, not plants.

… Stephen Hart, 14 December, 2022 - 5:37pm

Hemihomonyms database

https://www.biotaxa.org/Bionomina/article/view/4
http://herba.msu.ru/shipunov/os/homonyms/index.php

… John F. Carr, 30 January, 2020 - 7:51am

Fantastic

Thanks for finding this.

… Erick Adams, 30 January, 2020 - 3:48pm

So many!!!

The list is endless. I keep running into examples in Wikipedia. The subtitle "(plant)", "(insect)", "(fungus)", etc. has to be added to the title to differentiate it from the other taxa. If we include obsolete synonyms... let us not even talk about it!

… Beatriz Moisset, 30 January, 2020 - 9:01am

One that constantly throws me

One that constantly throws me these days is

Heliconius - a butterfly, which I study
Heliconia - a ginger relative, which Heliconius *doesn't* feed on despite being in the same location

People always mess up which one they're talking about when they talk about what I study... and they assume Heliconius must pollinate/feed on Heliconia given the name. They don't.

… Kelsey J.R.P. Byers, 24 October, 2019 - 9:10am

Herbertia

Plant (Iridaceae) and wasp (Pteromalidae).

… Charley Eiseman, 24 October, 2019 - 6:00am

Iris

A genus of monocots (plant) and a genus of mantid (insect).

… John Pearson, 16 March, 2014 - 9:35am

yeah, neat small mantids with rainbow-like hindwing pattern

very common in the Mediterranean Basin

… v belov, 16 March, 2014 - 3:41pm

Pellaea

Stink bug & fern

… Charley Eiseman, 14 March, 2014 - 8:59am

Ficus

A genus of marine gastropod (figsnails) and a genus of woody plants (figs, best known for its trees).

… John Pearson, 13 March, 2014 - 9:42pm

Mimulus (monkeyflowers, which

Mimulus (monkeyflowers, which I study)
Mimulus (a genus of crab)

As far as I know the various folks just don't talk to one another - the angiosperm folks mostly keep to themselves and I assume the animal nomenclaturists do as well. One wishes there were a central database of all nomenclature a la diptera.org's Nomenclator, but... Especially tricky with names originally derived from Latin and Greek adjectives!

… Kelsey J.R.P. Byers, 4 March, 2014 - 8:19pm

Eucharis parasitoid wasp (Eucharitidae)

Eucharis flower in the Liliaceae

… John S. Ascher, 4 March, 2014 - 8:11pm

A wasp and a moss

Trachypus, a wasp
A moss

… Beatriz Moisset, 24 February, 2014 - 4:40pm

Euchlaena...

is a moth genus (Geometridae) and a grass genus (Poaceae).

… Charley Eiseman, 19 January, 2014 - 8:02pm

Phylloporia

Phylloporia Heinemann, 1870 is a European moth genus (Incurvariidae)
Phylloporia Murrill, 1904 is a genus of polypore fungi (Hymenochaetaceae)

… Charley Eiseman, 26 December, 2013 - 2:02pm

Gomphus is another insect(dra

Gomphus is another insect(dragonflies)/fungus duo

… W. Steffens, 28 December, 2013 - 9:08pm

both animals, different taxonomic level:

Acanthocephala, a genus of coreid hemipterans and a phylum of parasitic animals allied to the rotifers.

… Blaine Mathison, 18 November, 2013 - 10:52am

Bellardia in Calliphoridae and in Orobanchaceae

this page is a good example of how messed up things can get if the googled-out info is not double-checked: the page treats a blowfly genus but the common name 'Lineseed' refers to the plant... --despite the fact that EOL tries to keep track of the cross-code homonyms here

… v belov, 17 November, 2013 - 5:38pm

Periploca

Periploca Tourn. ex. L. (Apocynaceae) - plant
Periploca Braun (Cosmopterigidae) - moth

… Charley Eiseman, 28 May, 2012 - 7:57am

Tetrapedia

Tetrapedia a bee and an alga.

… Beatriz Moisset, 24 May, 2012 - 5:37am

Schroederella

in Algae (Schroederella Pavillard 1913), Diptera (Schroederella Enderlein 1921) -- and Annelida (Schroederella Laubier 1962, still used, despite the apparent homonymy!)
something is not right.

… v belov, 16 May, 2012 - 7:08pm

Lasiopogon

Lasiopogon is a genus in robber flies and low shrubby African Asteraceae plants. When Loew (the entomologist) realized this 30 years after creating the name, he tried to change the flies to a new name, but this was rejected because the botany and zoology codes are adamantly and frustratingly independent.

… Tristan McKnight, 15 April, 2012 - 4:58pm

Glaucidium

A genus of owls as well as the montypic perennial herb Glaucidium palmatum from Japan. The latter is emerging in my garden currently.

… Erick Adams, 15 April, 2012 - 7:46am

Animal vs. animal?

Aglossa, a genus of Pyralid moths and an old name for a frog family Pipidae, which continues to be used sometimes and pops up in searches.

… Beatriz Moisset, 23 January, 2012 - 12:07pm

Diplolepis

A wasp, family Cynipidae, and a plant, family Apocinaceae. Wikipedia

… Beatriz Moisset, 19 January, 2012 - 7:13am

Wow. I looked at some photos.

They produce some very cool looking galls.
Some of them look like they'd make good caltrops.

The plant genus is pretty cool in its own right. They're trailing herbs that
produce follicular fruiting pods like milkweed. I grow the sister genus Cynachum
in my garden. It's a perennial favorite ;)

… Erick Adams, 19 January, 2012 - 9:10am

Plants v. Animals

It seems that it is very confusing :-)
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/11/doctoral-student-can’t-tell-the-difference-between-botany-and-zoology/

… John R. Maxwell, 21 November, 2011 - 6:43pm

Erianthus

A grass & a grasshopper. Apparently there's one of each called Erianthus versicolor.

… Erick Adams, 21 November, 2011 - 6:13pm

Eulophus...

...is a genus of wasps and was a genus of plants in the Parsley family. The latter presently has no accepted names (either unresolved or moved to the genus Perideridia), but still shows up in older literature.

… John Pearson, 5 October, 2011 - 11:30am

2 flies

Richardia fly and Richardia mexican-clover

Cerataulina algae and Cerataulina lauxaniid fly - the wrong one is on this EOL page

… Keith Bayless, 3 October, 2011 - 8:35pm

Gomphus

I just learned that Gomphus is a genus of mushrooms as well as a genus of dragonflies.

(And Beatriz: Yes, it's frustrating that the BugGuide search doesn't include initial forum posts. I found this one by searching for "ammophila grass," remembering =v='s comment. I think I'll add this and a few other General Discussion posts to my summary of articles so it will be easier to find in the future--feel free to suggest other General Discussion posts to add there).

… Charley Eiseman, 1 October, 2011 - 10:32am

Hopper and legume

There is a genus of plants and one of hoppers with the same name Paramesus.
BTW: I couldn't find this thread using search. In desperation I used Google adding Bugguide.net to my query and found it in the blink of an eye.

… Beatriz Moisset, 23 July, 2011 - 5:13pm

Trentepohlia

According to this Wikipedia note, Trentepohlia is a genus of crane fly and a genus of algae

… John Pearson, 15 April, 2011 - 11:30am

Pieris

Pieris is the genus name for some butterflies and some shrubs in the family Ericaceae.

… Corey Husic, 3 April, 2011 - 7:10pm

Chaetopsis

The first time I looked for a guide to identifying Chaetopsis flies I was unable to make sense of the key I found. Eventually I figured out that I was looking at a paper about the fungus genus of the same name.

… John F. Carr, 3 April, 2011 - 8:47am

Nice.

That's a good one.

… Erick Adams, 3 April, 2011 - 3:43pm

cross-kingdom: Hadronema

valid genera in Miridae and in Fungi

… v belov, 12 January, 2011 - 11:38am

Parnassia/Parnassius

Parnassia is a genus of plants in the Saxifrage family; Parnassius is a genus of butterfly.

… John Pearson, 17 September, 2010 - 3:13pm

playing nice

Recognizing the independence of the zoo & botanical nomenclatures from each other is a reasonable way to play nice. Generic 'homonyms' across kingdom lines abound. BTW, ICZN does not regulate names above family-group, so the order Dictyoptera peacefully coexists with valid beetle genus Dictyoptera.

… v belov, 5 September, 2010 - 5:08pm

Add to that list:

Amorpha = leguminous shrubs & moths
Aristotelia = trees of the Elaeocarpaceae & moths
Colocasia = aroid genus commonly called "elephant ear" & moths

… Erick Adams, 19 August, 2010 - 11:24am

Add:

Dipogon, a spider wasp and a legume

… Nick Fensler, 15 September, 2010 - 1:01pm

Stelis and Prosopis

are generic names for both bees and plants

… John S. Ascher, 7 September, 2010 - 9:14pm

Ammophila: grass or wasp?

this page is a striking example of how the nomenclatural independence may cause grave problems: the database can't tell which is which and treats all as members of the same genus -- apparently, generating a combined distribution map!

… v belov, 28 October, 2010 - 11:10pm

Nice find!

what a mess :)

… Erick Adams, 29 October, 2010 - 6:42am

Thanks for the additions

I wasn't familiar with Stelis as a plant. I think it would be fun to keep a running list.

Stelis = bees & orchids
Prosopis = bees and mesquite trees

… Erick Adams, 8 September, 2010 - 8:43am

Different kingdoms,

different codes. The Rules recommend against it but it is not forbidden.

… Michael C. Thomas, 17 August, 2010 - 7:03pm