In reading through the e-mails from those commenting on the recent name change for the “common” fruit fly, I ran across a lead to this little nomenclatural tidbit.
If one “googles” the word echidna, one finds nearly all of the first “hits” relate to Tachyglossus aculeatus the cute little primitive mammal (a monotreme of Australia and some other locations in that general part of the world). The creature’s common names include “spiny anteater”. The scientific name literally means "spiny quick tongue"
Digging a bit further, one finds the name Echidna also applied to a genus of fish (e.g. moray eels) and to the Greek monster goddess (as depicted here in the steel sculpture). In Greek mythology, Echidna was the mate of Typhon. Typhon turns out to also be the name given to a large asteroid; large enough to have its own orbiting moonlet called, you guessed it, Echidna.
There is even a heavy metal band by this name (the album cover)
So, take your pick; spiny anteater, eel, goddess or moon or rocker group. They are all echidnas.
BTW, the asteroid Typhon is considered to be the first known binary “centaur”, here used as a term for a celestial minor planet type (gee, I wonder how many different kind of “centaurs” there might be).
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