Real Words Without Definition
We're sure about this one.
The Latin name of a group of plants or animals.
The naming system runs on endings, which is why there are so many. -idae is an animal family, -aceae a plant family, -inae a subfamily, -ales an order. achetidae is the crickets, acraeinae is a group of butterflies, agalenidae is the funnel-weaver spiders.
They are capitalised in real use but arrive here in lower case like everything else.
2,849 words · sorted A to Z · each with a line on why it is here
Matches the word itself, not the note beside it. Case does not matter.
| Word, sorted Z to A | What it names |
|---|---|
| asternata | group of animals lacking a sternum |
| asterolepidae | family of fossil placoderm fishes |
| asterospondyli | sharks with star-shaped vertebral calcification |
| asteroxylaceae | family of Devonian fossil plants |
| astraeidae | family of stony corals |
| astylospongia | genus of fossil sponges |
| atamosco | Atamosco, former genus of rain lilies |
| ateuchi | plural of Ateuchus, scarab beetles |
| ateuchus | genus of scarab beetles |
| athericera | Athericera, a division of flies |
| athyridae | family of fossil brachiopods |
| atikokania | genus of supposed Precambrian fossils |
| atremata | Atremata, an order of brachiopods |
| atropidae | family of book-lice |
| aulacodus | genus of African cane rats |
| aulostoma | genus of trumpetfishes (also of leeches) |
| aulostomatidae | family of trumpetfishes |
| aulostomi | plural of Aulostomus, trumpetfishes |
| aurantiaceae | former family of citrus plants |
| auriculidae | family of pulmonate snails |
| australopithecinae | subfamily of fossil hominids |
| autobasidiomycetes | group of basidiomycete fungi |
| autosauri | group of lizards (Autosauri) |
| autosauria | group of reptiles (Autosauria) |
| aviculariidae | family of tarantula spiders |
| avicularimorphae | group of mygalomorph spiders |
| axifera | group of alcyonarian corals |
| axonia | genus/group name in zoology |
| axonolipa | division of rotifers |
| azadrachta | genus of the neem tree (Azadirachta) |
| azotobacterieae | family of nitrogen-fixing bacteria |
| azygobranchia | order of gastropod molluscs |
| azygobranchiata | order of gastropod molluscs |
| bacillariaceae | family of diatoms |
| bacillariales | order of diatoms |
| bacillarieae | group of diatoms |
| bacteroideae | group of bacteria (Bacteroideae) |
| bactrites | genus of fossil cephalopods |
| balaenicipites | group containing the shoebill Balaeniceps |
| balanoglossida | hemichordate group of Balanoglossus |
| balanopsidales | order of flowering plants |
| baloskionaceae | plant family of the restiads |
| balsameaceae | former family of balsam-yielding trees |
| balsamorrhiza | genus of composites, the balsamroots |
| basidiolichenes | class of lichens bearing basidia |
| basilarchia | genus of admiral butterflies |
| bassaris | genus of ringtail carnivores |
| batidaceae | saltwort family of plants |
| batocrinidae | family of fossil crinoids |
| batoidei | suborder of rays and skates |
| batrachidae | family of toadfishes |
| batrachophidia | group of snakelike amphibians |
| bdelloida | order of rotifers |
| bdellostoma | genus of hagfishes |
| bdellostomatidae | family of hagfishes |
| bdellostomidae | family of hagfishes |
| bdellouridae | family of marine triclad flatworms |
| belemnitidae | family of fossil belemnite cephalopods |
| belostomidae | family of giant water bugs |
| bembecidae | family of sand wasps |
| berigora | species name of the Australian brown falcon |
| berycoidea | group of berycoid fishes |
| berycomorphi | order of berycoid fishes |
| betulites | fossil genus of birch-like leaves |
| bidentalia | Owen's group of dicynodont reptiles |
| bikukulla | genus of fumitory plants (Dutchman's breeches) |
| biloculina | genus of foraminifers |
| bipaliidae | family of land planarians |
| blattoidea | superfamily of cockroaches |
| blennioidea | suborder of blennies |
| blepharocera | genus of net-winged midges |
| blepharoceridae | family of net-winged midges |
| blephillia | genus of mint-family herbs (Blephilia) |
| boebera | genus of composite plants (Boebera) |
| bolboxalis | genus of oxalidaceous plants |
| bombidae | family of bumblebees |
| bombinae | subfamily of bumblebees |
| bopyridae | family of parasitic isopods |
| bostrychidae | family of wood-boring beetles |
| bothrodendron | genus of fossil lycopod trees |
| botryllidae | family of compound ascidians |
| botryomyces | genus, the organism of botryomycosis |
| botryopteriaceae | family of fossil ferns |
| bougainvilliidae | family of hydroid coelenterates |
| bouteria | genus of sapotaceous trees (= Pouteria) |
| brachelytra | group of short-winged (rove) beetles |
| brachiata | division of arm-bearing invertebrates |
| brachioganoidei | order of ganoid fishes |
| brachyoura | Brachyura, the short-tailed crabs |
| brachystomata | group of short-mouthed flies |
| branchiopulmonata | molluscan group with gills and lung |
| branchiosauria | order of extinct gilled amphibians |
| branchiostegidae | family of fishes (tilefishes) |
| branchiostomidae | family of lancelets (amphioxus) |
| branchipodidae | family of fairy shrimps |
| branchipus | genus of fairy shrimps |
| braula | genus of the bee-louse |
| brevicipitidae | family of frogs |
| brevicomis | Latin specific epithet, "short-horned" |
| brotulidae | family of cusk-eels |
The other lists filed alongside this one.
