Talk:Species

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Boa constrictor[edit]

In the lead, Boa constrictor is given as a first example of a binomial name. It's not wrong, but I'm not sure it's a good choice. In plain English, constrictor means "any snake that kills its prey by constriction"; hence, you can interpret "boa constrictor" in plain English as a boa snake that kills by contriction. This may not be an accurate circumscription, but it makes the example more confusing than necessary. An example where neither part is also a word in plain English would be better. Homo sapiens, Canis lupus, Pinus pinea - there's no end of examples, among them fairly well-known ones, that I think would be better - but I'm not sure which would serve us best here. Thoughts? (talk) 08:11, 22 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]