Taxonomy, the study of naming life scientifically, is an immensely complicated and confusing science, easily confounding enough to baffle any taxonomist, let alone hapless non-scientists who wonder what all the Latin words mean. This is evidenced by the number of names which have been left behind in the proverbial dust over the years.
A nomen dubium (pl. nomina dubia) is a scientific name based off of insufficient evidence to make it a valid name. There are a plethora of these in the scientific archives, more than enough to fill up a thick volume. A nomen nudum (pl. nomina nuda) is a word that sounds like a scientific name, and may indeed have been intended as one, but was never officially published, and as such holds little to no scientific value. A nomen oblitum (pl. nomina oblita) is a name which has not been used scientifically since 1899, after which any junior synonyms take its place.
Below are some of my favorites in that confusing world of dubious, stripped, and forgotten names, and the stories of how they came to be.
*Aachenosaurus - This dinosaur was discovered in the borderland between Belgium and Germany in 1888, and classified as a hadrosaur. Unfortunately for the reputation of its discoverer, Aachenosaurus turned out to be based upon specimens of petrified wood.
*Apatodon - "Deceptive tooth". The label couldn't fit better! When the backbone of this synonym for Allosaurus was found by Othniel Charles Marsh, he thought it was the tooth of a pig.
*Succinodon - Discovered by von Huene in 1941 near Warsaw, Poland, this fossil was attributed to the jaw bone of a titanosaur. However, later studies showed that it was - surprise - petrified wood.
*"Unicerosaurus" - "Unicerosaurus" was the nomen nudum given to a y-shaped bone from Texas, which was used for display at a Creation museum.
*Dynamosaurus, Manospondylus, Stygivenator, Dinotyrannus - All cool-sounding synonyms for Tyrannosaurus. Dynamosaurus, Stygivenator, and Dinotyrannus are all junior synonyms, by Manospondylus was named before Tyrannosaurus. However, since it hasn't been used since 1892, it's a nomen oblitum.
And there's plenty more where that came from. The point being, taxonomy is very complicated, and you should count yourself lucky that you don't have to deal with them more than you do! (Pictured is a nomen dubium, Agathaumas.)
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