I took a stab at gargoyle taxonomy a long time back, though I don't recall if i got through the whole thing. Here's a semi-accurate recreation.
Kingdom: Animalia Gargoyles clearly aren't one-celled organisms or fungi and i don't believe they're plants either, though their apparent ability to process solar energy during their daily sleep could be compared to photosynthesis.
Phylum: Chordata I'm pretty sure they have backbones as well.
Class: Mammalia I can't remember if I came to this conclusion on my own or I read that Greg said they were mammals. Either way, this seems to make the most sense to me. They have hair (if we assume that even Lex and Bronx have some small amount of hair that we don't see), they apparently nurse their young, and the "cold does not bother us" thing suggests warm blooded rather than a reptile, which would likely be very bothered by the cold. The egg laying doesn't rule out mammals either, so I'm gonna stick with it.
Order: Gargata (the source I'm using has "Primata" for primates) Now I know Greg has classified gargoyles as "gargates", so far be it from me to question that.
Family: Lithonidae As I'm remembering, this is where I got stuck the first time I tried this, since the real world taxonomy is not as helpful once "Gargata" comes into play. I think there are some real life cases where a particular classification contains only one type of the next lowest classification (families with onlu one genus, for example). Barring the discovery of gargoyles who do not turn to stone, this is probably going to be the case here.
Genus: Nocturnus I really like Lynati's classification, but I wanted something that wasn't just repeating the family classification. As one of the other major features of gargoyles is their forced nocturnal schedule, "nocturnus" seems to work. Again, assuming there are no gargoyles or gargoyle-like creatures that can naturally remain awake by day (as opposed to through magic), this is probably the only genus in this family.
Species (Regular gargoyle): Sapiens Again, I like Lynati's classification a lot, but I think I had this in mind when I did my first one too. "Sapiens" means "thinking" and what beeter species name to give to the first other terrestrial equal that humanity discovers? (we are now assuming that the scientific classification for gargoyles is done after the initial panic surrounding their discovery by modern humans, at some time when cooler scientific heads prevail.)
Species (Gargoyle beast): Ferox The Latin dictionary I'm using says it can mean "courageous" and "warrior-like" when used positively, or "wild" and "unbridled" in a more negative sense. That seems to exemplify both the positive qualities of a gargoyles beast and the way someone might feel about one when being chased around by Bronx. Lynati, what does "Theros" mean? I tried checking myself and all I got was "Greek for 'harvesting'", which seemed a bit off to me.
So the full scientific name for a gargoyle would be Animalia Chordata Mammalia Gargata Lithonidae Nocturnus Sapiens. In other words, a gargoyles is an animal with a backbone which has hair, nurses its young, and is warm blooded, turns to stone, is active only at night, and is capable of reasoning. Sound good?
I'd agree that the wide variations in gargoyles appearence should not cause them to be classified as different species, since they are all perfectly able to interbreed and produce viable offspring. However, sometimes scientists will assign sub-species classifications to a species. I think they're often used to describe situations where sucessful interbreeding may be possible, but geographic barriers prevent it from occuring. So for the known clans today, you could maybe have "nocturnus sapiens Manhattanus" or "nocturnus sapiens Londinium". (Please forgive my rusty Latin. I'm not going to embarass myself further bu making up Latin names for "Guatamala" or "Japan".) But given the wide variety of gargoyle appearences, scientists might decide that further classification based on physical features is called for. So we could have:
nocturnus sapiens homo - Gargoyles that closely resemble humans, like Goliath, Demona, and Angela
nocturnus sapiens rostratus - Gargoyles with beaks, like Brooklyn (rostratus - "beaked")
nocturnus sapiens brachialatus - Gargoyles with Lexington's wing structure (roughly translates to "arm wing")
nocturnus sapiens cornus - A gargoyle with large horns.
nocturnus sapiens serpentis - A gargoyle that resembles a snake.
nocturnus sapiens leo - A gargoyle that resembles a lion.
nocturnus sapiens gryps - A gargoyle that looks like a griffin.
And maybe you could have "nocturnus ferox canis" and "nocturnus ferox felis" to denote more canine or feline like gargoyle beasts.
Feel free to have your own fun with it. I've obviously had too much already.
Demonskrye
King Phillip Came Over From Germany Saturday
posted @ Sun, Jun 4, 2006 10:01:29 pm EDT from 209.6.250.47
