[Taxacom] well-known names (was: Drosophila melanogaster name change?)

[Doug Yanega]

Eric Zurcher wrote:

>This is a rather enjoyable game...

And it depends on how you play it, too - using Google and ONLY 
putting the binomials in quotes (so exact matches are required), I get

Bombyx mori: 7,310,000
Staphylococcus aureus: 3,660,000
Zea mays: 1,960,000
Drosophila melanogaster: 1,940,000
Caenorhabditis elegans: 1,850,000
Oryza sativa: 1,840,000
Vitis vinifera: 1,070,000
Triticum aestivum: 1,020,000
Aedes aegypti: 984,000
Glycine max: 923,000
Phaseolus vulgaris: 911,000
Pan troglodytes: 863,000
Gallus gallus: 783,000
Pisum sativum: 755,000
Bacillus thuringiensis: 750,000
Hordeum vulgare: 743,000
Solanum tuberosum: 725,000
Nicotiana tabacum: 658,000
Sus scrofa: 652,000
Cannabis sativa: 640,000
Danio rerio: 636,000
Streptococcus pyogenes: 625,000
Brassica napus: 619,000

Note that this includes Eric's candidates, and some of Francisco's, 
with some very different results. What's also interesting is that the 
cat, horse, goat, and sheep don't make the cut, out of all the common 
domestic animals, nor do several of the more common birds (sparrow, 
crow, raven, pigeon, starling, robin), nor any commercially or 
culturally significant fish, reptiles, or amphibians, nor any of the 
well-known tree fruits (apples, oranges, cherries, pears, peaches). 
Only one insect pest makes the cut, plus two beneficials (Drosophila 
melanogaster only appears - as #10 in my list - because it is a lab 
animal, as are the fish and amphibian).

Peace,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82