Revised 23 Feb. 2023
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Lepidosiren Fitzinger 1837 lepídos (Gr. λεπίδος), genitive of lepίs (λεπίς), scale; Siren Linnaeus 1766, a genus of aquatic salamanders named for monsters of classical mythology, part woman, part bird, who lured sailors to destruction by their enchanted singing, reflecting a comment from an early naturalist that these salamanders possessed a kind of singing voice; Fitzinger considered the lungfish a reptile (which at the time included amphibians) intermediate between the salamander genus Amphiuma and the eel genus Muraena, but with scales

Lepidosiren paradoxa Fitzinger 1837 Latin for strange or contrary to expectation, referring to the seeming paradox of an eel-like salamander covered with scales yet resembling a fish