Dear all,
 
In the Indo-Pacific we have a small shell genus called Diala. It's a tiny
gastropod.
 
A few years back, Carole Hickman wrote a hilarious article in Australian
Shell News about the corruption of this name. She cited the Yellow Pages:
Dial-a-Pizza, Dial-a-Nanny, and so on.
 
Personally, I can never go past the Muricid genus Fartia without a chuckle.
I like Helmut's Natica stercusmuscarum (fly shit). I believe the name was
conveniently synonimised with something less offending. Can't remember what
it was.
 
I know there are many more ridiculous names out there. I'd love to hear
about them
 
Patty
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