Why is V. acanthurus listed as Spiny-Tailed Monitors? They are called Ackie Monitors in the hobby so I thought that they must have been called something different in Europe, but after checking those listings, they are called Ackies there too. I think it would remove confusion since Ackies are the commonly accepted names for these.
It’s because people still sell them as this I think…
But since most people sell them as Ackies I think that would be better for the categories. Here are screenshots of the U.S. and Europe ads, all but one of them are listed as Ackies (and another one that doesn’t list either name). So of the current listings that list a name, ~95% use Ackie monitor.
The spiny tailed monitor is more of their common name when referring to the species (like what wildlife biologists in Australia would list down after their scientific name). Ackies dwarf monitor is also one they are called but it is like the last one listed. I think they are going with the more officially accepted common name and not just what the pet trade calls them. I personally don’t see a problem with it being called Spiny tailed monitor. It lists the scientific name afterwards so it is easy to figure out what it is.
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Common names aren’t supposed to be accurate (the purpose of scientific names). Most people that are in the hobby and don’t know a ton about them will only know them by their commonly used name (in the hobby) which is ‘Ackie’ they wouldn’t know other names like ‘Spiny-Tailed’ or the scientific name. It doesn’t really matter if the scientific community and reptile keeping community agree on the common name. If the two communicate between each other it will be the scientific name that’s used. Since ‘Ackie’ is the commonly accepted hobby term I think that using that name is the easiest and the most people will know what it means.
To be fair, if someone doesn’t know ackies have other common names, that to me means they haven’t done enough research to be able to own one. It is really easy to find out other common names just via a simple google search. Given ackies are a more advanced species to keep, a bit more than one google search should be something people do before looking to buy one.
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A lot of people browsing the monitors aren’t planning to buy them or they are checking the price to see if it’s even possible to own. I noticed it when I was just looking at monitors, I know what a spiny-tail monitor is, but I’m not planning on buying one.