Etymology of Lystrophis

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orphia
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Joined: December 27th, 2012, 10:46 am

Etymology of Lystrophis

Post by orphia »

Not sure if this belongs here or elsewhere - but does anyone know the etymology of Lystrophis (as in pulcher)? I've been trying to figure it out but as I don't speak Latin, it's all Greek to me. Strangely enough the species name is readily available - pulcher refers to the beauty of the snake, hard to disagree with that!

A picture of the little bugger as a reward for reading:

Image

Ayahuasca
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Etymology of Lystrophis

Post by Kelly Mc »

In a dinosaur glossary I just looked at lystro is a Greek word meaning shovel, or spoon.

That's as far as I got. I have similar quests with words all the time. Then I find a glossary and get lost in it. So interesting.
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Kent VanSooy
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Re: Etymology of Lystrophis

Post by Kent VanSooy »

ophis means snake....
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Etymology of Lystrophis

Post by Kelly Mc »

Well yeah. A beautiful shovel faced snake you have there orphia. So to speak.

Its more comprehensive when animals are named for their morphological features than an individuals name imo.

If you look at that upside down shovel shape you will notice it in other reptiles as well. Savannah Monitors for example have a very similar construct.
orphia
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Re: Etymology of Lystrophis

Post by orphia »

Kelly Mc wrote:Well yeah. A beautiful shovel faced snake you have there orphia. So to speak.

Its more comprehensive when animals are named for their morphological features than an individuals name imo.

If you look at that upside down shovel shape you will notice it in other reptiles as well. Savannah Monitors for example have a very similar construct.
Thank you! Indeed it is a very distinctive name and reflects the head nicely, though the upturned snout is not as pronounced as in Heterodon, and I find pulcher quite beautiful. Mystery solved!
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Etymology of Lystrophis

Post by Kelly Mc »

Once I was taking care of a savannah that never knew anything real, or good. He was bloated and obese and had rat scars on his face. It was a hospice situation where I didn't know how much time he had, so I just gave him proper monitor care and tried to make life fun for him. So I made him an enrichment tool out of a deep basin that I put a nice amount of thawed roaches in and filled the rest with a digestible grass pellet. I needed something he would ignore, not some corn based herp pellet he might like, and because he was compromised I didn't want him ingesting dirt.

He used that shovel head to trowel for the roaches like a blue collar man. He was energized and seemed so happy. It was in his eyes I could see it.

I gave him to a person to keep who knew what was up and he took great care if him, surpassing all of our expectations.

It is good to see what morphology is saying, and wonderful to see any animal enabled to use their gifts.

Sorry to digress but the memory beckoned.

Welcome to the forum orphia and hope you post more. This was fun. I have some words im hunting and new ones happen all the time.
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