ANSWERS: 2
  • Yes the person who discovers it can name it but they are not able to name it anything. First you have to follow a specific taxonomy following Kingdon, Phillum, Class, Order, Family, then the Genus and Species is where the names come. Usually the Genus is set by what the new organism looks like, and species is given any name. However any name is usually a latinized version of your name. Or you have you name entered after the dichotomy (full taxonomic name) such are Carl Linae the inverntor of the taxonomy system. To latinize you name just follow what Linae did, Carolous Linnaus.
  • To add to Daniel Mortensen's answer, the genus may be assigned on the basis of similarity to existing species (and the higher-order taxa will definitely be assigned that way), and the final part of the name must include the names of those who described the species first, but within the structure of the existing taxonomic system and the requirement for latinization, then yes, you can get away with naming an animal species almost anything. For example, recently a number of slime-mold beetles of the genus Agathidium were named after Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeldt, and Darth Vader: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April05/slime-mold.Bush.Cheney.ssl.html

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