Why ‘Red Head’and not ‘Vietnam’?
The word Sinodillo consists of the prefix Sinae- and the suffix -dillo. From Latin Sinae, from Greek Σῖναι (it means relating to China)[1] + spanish dillo which is contraction of armadillo[2].
So Sinodillo translates to “little chinese” or “small chinese”, a diminutive.
Sinodillo sp. ‘Red Head’ / ‘China’ / ‘Vietnam’ disambiguation
And indeed the Sinodillo sp. ‘Read Head’ is a small isopod measuring 10 – 12 mm long. I got mine from a respected French breeder of isopods as Merulanella sp. ‘Red Head’. Then I saw it for sale as Merulanella sp. ‘Vietnam’. After the new research on this isopod and its classification to the genus Sinodillo, the person who placed this isopod to the genus Sinodillo said that this isopod most likely comes from China and not from Vietnam. And he gave the general name Sinodillo sp. ‘China’. I personally kept the species name ‘Read Head’ since it is descriptive of this specific isopod (they have a red head and red skirt). Plus, there may appear more Sinodillo isopods coming from China, how we will call them then? Currently in the market, most sellers are selling this isopod under the name Sinodillo sp. ‘Vietnam’ or with its old synonym still in use as Merulanella sp. ‘Vietnam’. But as we saw from the etymology of the genus name Sinodillo here, it comes from China, not from Vietnam.
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References
1. Sino prefix, wiktionary
2. dillo, wordsense dictionary
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