Q 01/05

Roughly what share of Earth's estimated 8.7 million eukaryote species had been described by 2011?

A) About 14%

B) About 40%

C) About 75%

D) About 95%

Answer · why

A) About 14%

About 14% is all, so most species on Earth still await a name; the Catalogue of Life listed 1.64 million named species across every kingdom as of Apri...

Q 02/05

Which kitchen staple's epithet lycopersicum, 'wolf peach', was borrowed from a plant Galen named?

A) Apricot

B) Tomato

C) Pomegranate

D) Persimmon

Answer · why

B) Tomato

Tomato is Solanum lycopersicum, and Galen's 'wolf peach' has never been matched to a real plant; botanically it is a berry that is eaten as a vegetabl...

Q 03/05

Which snake's everyday English name is simply its scientific binomial, a rarity among animals?

A) Green anaconda

B) Reticulated python

C) Boa constrictor

D) King cobra

Answer · why

C) Boa constrictor

Boa constrictor is the only boid commonly called by that name in English, though every boid constricts; its subspecies' colouring earns them the commo...

Q 04/05

Which rorqual's name musculus may be a Linnaeus pun, since the Latin can mean 'little mouse'?

A) Fin whale

B) Humpback whale

C) Minke whale

D) Blue whale

Answer · why

D) Blue whale

Blue whale is Balaenoptera musculus, whose genus name means 'winged whale', and musculus can equally be read as 'muscle'.

Q 05/05

Following his friend Peter Artedi, in which class did Linnaeus first file whales and the manatee?

A) Fishes

B) Amphibians

C) Insects

D) Worms

Answer · why

A) Fishes

Fishes held the whales until the 10th edition of 1758 moved them into the mammal class, one of many reshuffles across the twelve editions Linnaeus ove...