View source for No Mans Sky Wiki:Discussion: 5.5 Genus Names

{{Version|WorldsTwo}}
'''No Mans Sky Wiki:Discussion: 5.5 Genus Names''' is a discussion page.

==Summary==
This discussion was started on 26 February 2025 by {{profile|Lenni009}}.

'''Current status''': Discussion ended, new genus names officially adopted.
[[Category:Wiki Discussions]]

===Subject of Discussion===
With the [[Worlds Part II]] update, several new creature types have been added.
Like all other [[genus|genera]], they should get proper scientific names. There are already some proposals:
* Crustacea (prawns)
* Cephalopoda (squid)
* Hippocampus (sea horses)
* Mobula (manta ray)

If everyone is fine with these names, they will become the official genus names. If there are any objections to any of these names, please make a counter proposal. {{profile|Phaedrus2929}} is the responsible wiki admin for these creature related matters.

This discussion will be open for seven days (until 05 March 2025). Please let us know what you think!

===Brief Explanation of Above Proposals===
Crustacea: In the Worlds2 release notes, HG refers to the Prawns as "shrimp-like crustaceans".

Cephalopoda: In the release notes, HG calls the Squids "haunting cephalopods".

Hippocampus: The IRL genus name for Seahorses, with "hippos" being the Greek for horse and "kampos" meaning sea animal or sea monster. The Hippocampus in the brain was given this name ''because'' it resembles a seahorse.

Mobula: The IRL genus name for Rays.

[[User:Phaedrus2929|Phaedrus2929]] ([[User talk:Phaedrus2929|talk]]) 18:35, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

==Discussion==
Add your thoughts below. Please don't forget to sign your posts with <code><nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></code>

===Missing species===
The list is leaving out a few other new aquatic fauna:<br />
- Nautlius - Nautilidae is the most obvious choice since that's the proper scientific name<br />
- Bioluminescent fish - someone already used the term "Nemodae" on the wiki page, but it's unclear to me where this term is coming from<br />
- Hermit crabs - the same person also named these "Galeae", apparently in reference to helmets, but that term isn't used to describe hermit crabs anywhere I can find.<br />
[[User:DGMann|DGMann]] ([[User talk:DGMann|talk]]) 00:41, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

:The Nautilus shell squids would just be a version of squid/Cephalopoda, if those are the ones you mean. The bioluminescent fish (in both schooling and single-adorned varieties) are very much like the pre-existing fish in the game and would be reasonably added to the Ictaloris genus. Similar story with the hermit crabs, which could be placed in Bosaquatica. The thought anyway is not to unnecessarily multiply genera if there are reasonable pre-existing ones in some cases. [[User:Phaedrus2929|Phaedrus2929]] ([[User talk:Phaedrus2929|talk]]) 06:57, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

::While the fish are a lot more of a grey area, I think there is a case to be made for the hermit crabs to be considered a new genus, as they are tameable, whereas to my knowledge Bosaquatica are not. [[User:Katherine with a K|Katherine with a K]] ([[User talk:Katherine with a K|talk]]) 16:41, 01 March 2025 (UTC)

===Consent===
I agree with all suggestions. Thank you all for working this out. [[User:Artifexity|Artifexity]] ([[User talk:Artifexity|talk]]) 13:05, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Looks good to me. [[User:P2LSnas|P2LSnas]] ([[User talk:P2LSnas|talk]]) 17:57, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

I'm ok with this as well. [[User:BraveCaperCat|BraveCaperCat]] ([[User talk:BraveCaperCat|talk]]) 01:08, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

The chosen names seem appropriate to me. [[User:MoonWatcher75|MoonWatcher75]] ([[User talk:MoonWatcher75|talk]]) 23:59 27 February 2025 (UTC)

===Vagueness===
Prefacing this by saying I'm new to this and not entirely sure how much it matters, but wouldn't Dendrobanchiata be a more accurate name for prawns? Crustacea feels a bit too vague especially considering we already have other crustaceans, namely crabs. Also for squid, I'm less sure about the exact variety of generation for them, but perhaps narrowing it down to Decapodiformes (or Teuthidae if you prefer a shorter though perhaps less scientific name) could help in the off chance we get some other cephalopods, like octopi? Other than that I have no objections. [[User:murrmakes|murrmakes]] ([[User talk:murrmakes|talk]]) 18:23 , 16 February 2025 (UTC)

===Plural or not?===
Maybe it's just my ignorance of how Latin plurals work, but isn't "Hippocampus" singular? I feel like the plural should be Hippocampi, Hippocampuses, or even Hippocampae. Merriam-Webster has hippocampi listed as the official plural of the word, but maybe that's only in the brain sense and not the fauna genus sense. [[User:KelpTheGreat|KelpTheGreat]] ([[User talk:KelpTheGreat|talk]]) 20:20, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

:You are correct that Hippocampus is singular...note that this is the actual IRL genus for seahorses. Genus/species terms tend to be in the singular, like homo sapiens for example which are singular. Just as a random example the genus for wolves is "Canis", which is a singular term too. [[User:Phaedrus2929|Phaedrus2929]] ([[User talk:Phaedrus2929|talk]]) 06:40, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

===Current names===
Person who came up with the current (maybe placeholder) new genus names on the wiki, I'll explain the picks as best as I can remember. I tried to make them a bit more "unique" and shy away from just taking the real-life genus names of the animals they're based upon without any modification, because 1. aliens, 2. as {{profile|murrmakes}} mentioned, vagueness, and 3. the launch fauna's official genera names were a bit more abstract (i.e Anastomus (Striders) meaning "stork" or Rangifae (Diplos) being an altered form of Rangifer, meaning "reindeer")

* Luxanastomus (Biolum. Striders): Just the name of the strider genus with the latin word for "light" in front of it
* Decarmatis (Prawns): Portmanteau of deca-armatis (ten-armed), tried to make it sound like how an alien with no reference for what a prawn is would classify it
* Galeae (Hermit Crabs): "Helmet" because most of them use helmets as their shells
* Krakenidae (Giant Squids): Giant Squid. Kraken. Needs no further explanation
* Mobulis (Manta Rays): Real life name for manta rays but slightly modified, for reasons I do not remember
* Nemodae (Biolum. Fish): Small Fish. Nemo. Also needs no further explanation
* Phantasmata (Ghost Squids): "Phantasms"
* Unamanus (Seahorses): "One-Armed", tried to make it sound like how an alien with no reference for what a seahorse is would call it
* Pythagoridae (Weird Geometric Things): Geometry. Pythagoras. Another obvious one
* Saltatoris (Spinning Spiky Squids/Space Udders/Winged Eye Worms): "Dancers"
[[User:Katherine with a K|Katherine with a K]] ([[User talk:Katherine with a K|talk]]) 16:27, 01 March 2025 (UTC)
::Btw, thanks for the "provisional" genus names! [[User:Artifexity|Artifexity]] ([[User talk:Artifexity|talk]]) 10:44, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

::Thanks for some great suggestions there! This only pertains to some of the proposals, but I think we should hesitate to unnecessarily multiply genera, when there are quite related creatures that fit nicely together in one genus and add some depth to it. We already have numerous genera that contain a variety of creatures, due to their similar appearance or behavior etc.. For example, Protorollers, Protoflyers, Rhopalocera, Felidae, Prototerrae, Anomalous, etc. etc.. (Note on your above comment that some genera already contain creatures with different tameability.) It is nice IMO to populate a genus with a bit more variety when HG provides us with new yet related content. It's for these sorts of considerations that I think it makes sense to add the new fish to Ictaloris, the crabs to Bosaquatica, the luminous Striders to Anastomus, ghost squids together with other squids, geometric flyers together with the WIDE variety of Protoflyers, etc.. Just as an example, it would be unusual for there to be a whole unique genus for the geometrical fliers...we don't really have other genera with such an unvaried narrow focus. Anyway, just my thoughts and some additional explanation there! I do very much like your proposals for prawns, hermit crabs, squids, rays, and seahorses! [[User:Phaedrus2929|Phaedrus2929]] ([[User talk:Phaedrus2929|talk]]) 07:25, 3 March 2025 (UTC)

:::Fair point on the collective categories, I was kind of operating on a basis of "If Hello Games calls it a new creature on the update announcement, add a new genus" with the exception of the ghost squids, which for some reason I'd only found a really small specimen of in-game, so I thought it was supposed to be a different genus entirely [[User:Katherine with a K|Katherine with a K]] ([[User talk:User:Katherine with a K|talk]]) 16:43, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

==Result==
* Prawns: Crustacea
* Manta Rays: Mobula
* Seahorses: Hippocampus
* Squids: Krakenidae

For the others, at least for now placing these new things in pre-existing genera:

* Glowing striders in Anastomus
* New flyers (polygons, spikes, spirals, etc.) in Protoflyer
* Hermit crabs in Bosaquatica
* Luminous fish in Ictaloris

This thread is now closed. If there is a need to further discuss the matter, please use the [[{{TALKPAGENAME}}|talk page]].