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Tautonyms

Seeing double with scientific names

There are 82 species of birds whose scientific names are tautonyms -- that is, birds for which the two parts of the scientific name are the same. For example, in the case of the Manx Shearwater, the genus name, Puffinus, is the same as the species name, puffinus, except for capitalization.

Of 9808 species of birds in the world, only these 82 have names that are tautonyms. And only 25 of those are for birds found in North America. Here are the world's 82 bird tautonyms. (Normally the scientific name is printed in italics, but because italics are hard to read on screen, the scientific names are shown here in plain type.)

Southern Cassowary Casuarius casuarius
Hoary-headed Grebe Poliocephalus poliocephalus
Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus
Red-footed Booby Sula sula
Anhinga Anhinga anhinga
Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Boat-billed Heron Cochlearius cochlearius
White Stork Ciconia ciconia
Coscoroba Swan Coscoroba coscoroba
Greylag Goose Anser anser
Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus
Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna
Harlequin Duck Histrionicus histrionicus
Red Kite Milvus milvus
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
Trinidad Piping-Guan Pipile pipile
Alagoas Curassow Mitu mitu
Helmeted Curassow Pauxi pauxi
Snow Partridge Lerwa lerwa
Gray Partridge Perdix perdix
Black Francolin Francolinus francolinus
Common Quail Coturnix coturnix
Red Junglefowl Gallus gallus
White Eared-Pheasant Crossoptilon crossoptilon
Willow Ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus
Corn Crake Crex crex
Spotted Crake Porzana porzana
Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio
Common Crane Grus grus
Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax
Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus
Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus
Wattled Jacana Jacana jacana
Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Dovekie Alle alle
Mascarene Parrot Mascarinus mascarinus
Guira Cuckoo Guira guira
Eurasian Eagle-Owl Bubo bubo
Common Swift Apus apus
Amazilia Hummingbird Amazilia amazilia
Bronzy Inca Coeligena coeligena
Sword-billed Hummingbird Ensifera ensifera
White-backed Mousebird Colius colius
Jamaican Tody Todus todus
Green-tailed Jacamar Galbula galbula
Greater Honeyguide Indicator indicator
Suiriri Flycatcher Suiriri suiriri
Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus
Purple-throated Cotinga Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema
Purple-breasted Cotinga Cotinga cotinga
Guianan Cock-of-the-rock Rupicola rupicola
White-bearded Manakin Manacus manacus
White-crowned Manakin Pipra pipra
Southern Tchagra Tchagra tchagra
Ratchet-tailed Treepie Temnurus temnurus
Red-billed Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
Black-billed Magpie Pica pica
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia
Eurasian Golden-Oriole Oriolus oriolus
Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes
White-throated Dipper Cinclus cinclus
Goldcrest Regulus regulus
Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus
Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia
Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe
Lafresnaye's Vanga Xenopirostris xenopirostris
Blue-backed Tanager Cyanicterus cyanicterus
Common Diuca-Finch Diuca diuca
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Yellow-headed Blackbird Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Austral Blackbird Curaeus curaeus
Melodious Blackbird Dives dives
Troupial Icterus icterus
European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis
European Serin Serinus serinus
Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula
Canary-winged Finch Melanodera melanodera
Hawfinch Coccothraustes coccothraustes
Rock Petronia Petronia petronia
Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea
Red Avadavat Amandava amandava


Capitalization of scientific names

Every species of living thing has a two-part scientific name. The genus name, which comes first, is always capitalized. The species name, which comes second, is never capitalized, even if it is a proper name. (For example, the duck known as the Redhead has the scientific name of Aythya americana,with the second word uncapitalized.)

All of the species listed above, plus the other 9,726 world birds, are included in the OmniList of Birds of the World.



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