1056: Felidae

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Felidae

Title text: 'Smilodon fatalis' narrowly edged out 'Tyrannosaurus rex' to win this year's Most Badass Latin Names competition, after edging out 'Dracorex hogwartsia' and 'Stygimoloch spinifer' (meaning 'horned dragon from the river of death') in the semifinals.

Explanation

This comic is three parted (or four if you count the Latin name portion).

First, the names are sorted up by genera (plural of genus, a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms) from bottom to top of which animals would win in a fight.

Secondly, the names within the genus are then sorted by coolness of name from left to right.

Thirdly, in red you can see the direction that Apple has taken with naming their OS X Operating Systems. They started at Cheetah and have moved through genuses from there in no order that this chart can make out.

Fourthly, Bobcats are an in joke of the comic in that they appear in the strangest places.

And lastly, despite being named after "Hogwarts", the magical school from the Harry Potter series of books and movies, Dracorex hogwartsia is real.

Transcript

Well-known felines:

[A graph organizing various feline species labeled with common names ordered by Genera (in order of which would win in a fight) on the y axis, and coolness of name on the x axis.]

Smilodon (extinct): "Saber-toothed cat (scientific name: Smilodon fatalis)

Panthera: "Jaguar", "Leopard", "Snow Leopard", "Tiger", "Lion"

Puma: "Cougar", "Puma", "Panther", "Mountain Lion"

Other felidae: "Ocelot", "Cheetah"

Felis & Lynx: "Housecat", "Bobcat", "Wildcat", "Lynx"

[Some elements are further connected using an unbranched acyclic digraph. The elements are connected thus: "Cheetah" -> "Puma" -> "Jaguar" -> "Panther" -> "Tiger" -> "Leopard" -> "Snow Leopard" -> "Lion" -> "Mountain Lion".]

The OS X Problem

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Discussion

I'm pretty sure there's the saber-toothed tiger in the smilodon category too. That's gonna be faaar to the right. Davidy²²[talk] 10:05, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

@davidy: saber-toothed tiger == saber-toothed cat. Same animal, different name. 189.135.115.199 21:38, 11 April 2013 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, Dracorex hogwartsia was specifically named for Hogwarts, so the name isn't disturbingly similar.Kdesltd (talk) 06:13, 16 February 2013 (UTC)