Did you ever wonder how whitetails got their scientific name?
QUESTION: Not sure this is actually a biology question, but I've always wondered how white-tailed deer got their scientific name. What does it mean?
ANSWER: Scientists use a system know as binomial nomenclature to assign unique (Latin-based) scientific names to all species. Under this system, deer belong to the order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates), which also includes pigs, cows, sheep and goats.
They are further segregated into the Cervidae family, which includes deer, moose, elk and caribou, and then the genus Odocoileus, which includes just deer.
Genus names are often derived from some physical characteristic, frequently related to the skull or teeth with mammals. The white-tailed deer’s scientific name is Odocoileus virginianus. The genus is a contraction of the Latin roots odonto and coleus, and means hollow-tooth.
All species belonging to this group, and those belonging to the larger genus and family, do in fact have hollow teeth. The species name virginianus or some form thereof is commonly used for species associated with the eastern U.S. It also often refers to the collection point for the original type specimen. This makes sense because some of the first visits to the New World by European naturalists were to settlements in the Virginia Colony, where they collected and described species previously unknown to science.
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