List of bacterial genera named after mythological figures
Encyclopedia
Several Bacterial species are named after graecoroman mythical figures.
The rules present for species named after a famous person do not apply, although some names are changed in the female nominative case, either by changing the ending to -a or to the diminutive -ella, depending on the name.
The rules present for species named after a famous person do not apply, although some names are changed in the female nominative case, either by changing the ending to -a or to the diminutive -ella, depending on the name.
- AcidianusAcidianusIn taxonomy, Acidianus is a genus of the Sulfolobaceae.-External links:...
and Janibacter: JanusJanus-General:*Janus , the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings*Janus , a moon of Saturn*Janus Patera, a shallow volcanic crater on Io, a moon of Jupiter...
, a god in Roman mythologyRoman mythologyRoman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
with two faces. - Amphritea: AmphitriteAmphitriteIn ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite was a sea-goddess and wife of Poseidon. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea...
('Αμφιτρίτη), a sea-goddess and wife of PoseidonPoseidonPoseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
in Greek mythologyGreek mythologyGreek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
and one of the 50 daughters of NereusNereusIn Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...
and DorisDoris (mythology)Doris , an Oceanid, was a sea nymph in Greek mythology, whose name represented the bounty of the sea. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the wife of Nereus. She was also aunt to Atlas, the titan who was made to carry the sky upon his shoulders, whose mother Clymene was a sister of Doris...
. - Breoghania: BreogánBreogánBreogán son of Brath was a mythical Celtic king from Galicia. Various accounts exist of this mythological father of the Galician nation. His sons were Ith and Bile . Bile was the father of Mil Espaine....
, the first mythical Celtic king of GallaeciaGallaeciaGallaecia or Callaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of Hispania...
in Celtic mythologyCeltic mythologyCeltic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
. - Chimaereicella: Chimaera (Χίμαιρα), a Greek mythological monstrous fire-breathing female creature with the fore part a lion, in the hinder a serpent, and in the middle a goat.
- CronobacterCronobacterCronobacter is a genus of Gram-negative, facultatively-anaerobic, oxidase negative, catalase positive, rod-shaped bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae....
: CronosCronusIn Greek mythology, Cronus or Kronos was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titans, divine descendants of Gaia, the earth, and Uranus, the sky...
(Κρόνος), in Greco-roman mythology leader of the TitansTitan (mythology)In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
who swallowed each of his children as soon as they were born, including ZeusZeusIn the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
. - Demetria (genus): DemeterDemeterIn Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
, the Greek goddess of harvest. - Ekhidna (genus): EchidnaEchidna (mythology)In Greek mythology, Echidna was half woman half snake, known as the "Mother of All Monsters" because most of the monsters in Greek myth were mothered by her...
(Ἔχιδνα), a slimy woman/snake sea creature in Greek mythology. - Eudoraea: Eudora (Εὐδώρα), one of the HyadesHyades (mythology)In Greek mythology, the Hyades , are a sisterhood of nymphs that bring rain.The Hyades were daughters of Atlas and sisters of Hyas in most tellings, although one version gives their parents as Hyas and Boeotia...
in Greek mythology - Haliea: HalieHalieHalie or Halia is the name of the following characters in Greek mythology:* Halie, one of the Nereids, daughter of Nereus and Doris...
(Ἁλίη), a sea nymph, also one of the 50 daughters of Nereus and Doris. - Hellea: HelleHelle (mythology)Helle was a character in Greek mythology who figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Phrixus, son of Athamas and Nephele, along with his twin sister, Helle, were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the town's crop...
(Ἕλλη), a Greek sea goddess. - Melitea: Melite (Μελίτη), one of the naiads, daughter of the river god Aegaeus, and one of the many loves of ZeusZeusIn the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
and his son HeraclesHeraclesHeracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
. Her son was HylasHylasIn Greek mythology, Hylas was the son of King Theiodamas of the Dryopians. Roman sources such as Ovid state that Hylas' father was Hercules and his mother was the nymph Melite, or that his mother was the wife of Theiodamas, whose adulterous affair with Heracles caused the war between him and her...
. - Neptuniibacter and Neptunomonas: Neptunius, the Roman god of the sea, equivalent of the Greek Poseidon.
- NereidaNereidaIn taxonomy, Nereida is a genus of the Rhodobacteraceae.-External links:...
: A Nereid, which are sea nymphs daughters of NereusNereusIn Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...
. - Nisaea (genus)Nisaea (genus)Nisaea is a genus in the phylum Proteobacteria , which contains two species, namely N. denitrificans and N. nitritireducens, which were described in 2008.-Description:...
: NicaeaNicaea (mythology)In Greek mythology, Nicaea was a nymph , the daughter of the river-god Sangarius and Cybele. She was beloved by a shepherd, Hymnus, and killed him, but Eros took vengeance upon her, and Dionysus, who first intoxicated her, made her mother of Telete, whereupon she attempted to hang herself; yet she...
, a sea nymph and daughter of the river-god SangariusSangariusThe genus Sangarius is in the shield bug family Acanthosomatidae....
and CybeleCybeleCybele , was a Phrygian form of the Earth Mother or Great Mother. As with Greek Gaia , her Minoan equivalent Rhea and some aspects of Demeter, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth...
. - Opitutus: OpsOpsIn ancient Roman religion, Ops or Opis, was a fertility deity and earth-goddess of Sabine origin.-Mythology:Her husband was Saturn, the bountiful monarch of the Golden Age. Just as Saturn was identified with the Greek deity Cronus, Opis was identified with Rhea, Cronus' wife...
, a Roman Earth and harvest goddess married to SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
. Equivalent of the Greek RheaRhea (mythology)Rhea was the Titaness daughter of Uranus, the sky, and Gaia, the earth, in Greek mythology. She was known as "the mother of gods". In earlier traditions, she was strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, the Great Goddess, and was later seen by the classical Greeks as the mother of the Olympian...
. - Pandoraea: PandoraPandoraIn Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts...
(Πανδώρα), the first woman who opened a jarPithosPithos originally referred in ancient Greek to a large storage jar of a characteristic shape. The word was at one point used by western classical archaeologists to mean the jars uncovered by excavation in Crete and Greece, it has now been taken into the American English language as a general word...
, known as Pandora's boxPandora's boxPandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation around line 60 of Hesiod's Works and Days. The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora , which contained all the evils of the world. When Pandora opened the jar, all its contents except for one item...
releasing evil into the world, in Greek mythology. - Persephonella: PersephonePersephoneIn Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....
(also known as Kore), is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades the king of the underworld. - Pilimelia: MeliaeMeliaeIn Greek mythology, the Meliae or Meliai were nymphs of the ash tree, whose name they shared. They appeared from the drops of blood spilled when Cronus castrated Uranus, according to Hesiod, Theogony 187. From the same blood sprang the Erinyes, suggesting that the ash-tree nymphs represented the...
(Μελίαι) were nymphs of the ash tree. Melia, one of them, was daughter of OceanusOceanusOceanus ; , Ōkeanós) was a pseudo-geographical feature in classical antiquity, believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to be the world-ocean, an enormous river encircling the world....
and lover of her brother the river-god InachusInachusIn Greek mythology, Inachus was a king of Argos after whom a river was called Inachus River, the modern Panitsa that drains the western margin of the Argive plain...
. - ProteusProteusIn Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea", whose name suggests the "first" , as protogonos is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς)...
and ThermoproteusThermoproteusIn taxonomy, Thermoproteus is a genus of the Thermoproteaceae.These prokaryotes are thermophilic sulphur-dependent organisms related to the genera Sulfolobus, Pyrodictium and Desulfurococcus...
: ProteusProteusIn Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea", whose name suggests the "first" , as protogonos is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς)...
(Πρωτεύς), an early sea-god able to change himself into different shapes. - TelluriaTelluriaThe Telluria are a genus of Gram-negative soil bacteria....
: TellusTerra (mythology)Terra or Tellus was a goddess personifying the Earth in Roman mythology. The names Terra Mater and Tellus Mater both mean "Mother Earth" in Latin; Mater is an honorific title also bestowed on other goddesses...
, a Roman goddess personifying the Earth. - Vampirovibrio: A vampireVampireVampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
, mythological beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of other creatures. - Vulcanibacillus, VulcanisaetaVulcanisaetaIn taxonomy, Vulcanisaeta is a genus of the Thermoproteaceae.- Description and significance :Vulcanisaeta is an anaerobic, heterotrophic, hyperthermophilic archaeon that grows optimally at 85-90°C and at pH 4.0-4.5...
and Vulcanithermus: VulcanusVulcan (mythology)Vulcan , aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. Vulcan is usually depicted with a thunderbolt. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
, the Roman god of fire.
See also
- List of bacterial genera named after geographical names
- List of bacterial genera named after institutions
- List of bacterial genera named after personal names
- list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names
- List of Bacteria genera
- List of bacterial orders
- List of sequenced prokaryotic genomes
- List of clinically important bacteria
- List of sequenced archaeal genomes
- List of Archaea genera
- Synonym (taxonomy)Synonym (taxonomy)In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...
- TaxonomyTaxonomyTaxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
- LPSNLPSNList of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature is an online database that maintains and provides accurate name and related information of prokaryotes according to the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria , curated by prof...
, list of accepted bacterial and archaeal names