The recent question about the clam genus Venus, and the subsequent mention of
the marine annelid (worm) genus Aphrodite got me thinking about the
relationship between zoological names and mythological names.  Linnaeus, in
assigning the name Venus, may have been thinking of the old myth which
describes her as being born from a shell.  I do have an additional theory, but
I'll just hang onto it for the moment, lest I get shot down again, and sent
off to the (cold) showers.  Incidentally, the two organisms mentioned above
are actually named after the same mythical person, the "goddess of love" -
Venus is the Roman (Latin) name for her, and Aphrodite is the Greek name.  The
more I thought about this, the more I discovered that there is quite a bit of
material here to think about.  There are a good number of molluscan genus
names that are identical to names from Roman or Greek mythology.  These
include, from the Greek:  Admete, Amalthea, Astraea, Chronos, Clio, Clytia,
Cytherea, Dione, Doris, Erato, Galatea, Hermes, Herse, Io, Lachesis,
Leucothea, Metis, Panacea, Pandora, Semele, Sterope, Syrinx, Tethys, Thebe,
Thetis, and Triton.  And from the Latin:  Achates, Aurora, Catillus, Ceres,
Corus, Diana, Egeria, Erycina, Faunus, Hersilia, Janus, Juno, Latona, Libera,
Libitina, Lima, Lucina, Murcia, Partula, Proserpina, Rumina, Runcina, Salacia,
Trivia, Venus and Vertumnus.  A number of these may now be reduced to subgenus
status, or may not be valid at all any more.  Also, I don't know for sure that
all of these genus names were actually derived from the mythological names.
Some of them may have come from other sources, and only match the Roman or
Greek names coincidentally, but in any case, it seems that mythology has
figured rather prominently in the naming of molluscan genera.
Species names also frequently appear to have mythological connections.  A few
examples:
Thaumastus achilles
Papuina adonis, Conus adonis
Partula calypso
Helicostyla diana
Chloritis isis
Acavus phoenix
Cerion proteus
Helicostyla satyrus
Chloraea sirena
Conus aphrodite
Terebra argus
Mitra aurora
Typhis eos
Cancellaria io
Conus janus
Conus typhon
Pleurotomaria midas
Volutomitra persephone
Murex artemis
Ryssota zeus
Scaphella junonia
Strombus aurisdianae
Calocochlia pan
Conus neptunus
Turrisipho lachesis
Ellobium aurismidae
 
Regards,
Paul Monfils