Coelophysis, the...snail? 

If you've read extensively on theropods, or, let's be real, if you follow me on social media, you know about Coelophysis bauri, the theropod. But you likely haven't heard of Coelophysis the snail, which is a thing, sort of.

There are a handful of mentions in the literature of a marine gastropod named Coelophysis (e.g. Itoigawa 1958, Sohl 1963, Jiang & Li 1995), either as a genus or as a subgenus of Retusa, with the authorship attributed to Fischer, 1883. Notably, this predates the publication of Cope's dinosaur genus Coelophysis in July of 1889 (Cope 1889).

"Coelophyis Fischer, 1883" made its way from the literature into various taxonomy databases, most notably GBIF.

However, one thing is not as it seems. Fischer never named a Coelophysis. What he named was Coleophysis, not Coelophysis (Fischer 1883). Most subsequent papers have used the correct spelling, but a few have accidentally spelled it like the dinosaur. This is termed a lapsus calami by the ICZN: what those of us not familiar with Latin expressions would refer to as a 'typo'. Some papers (e.g. Sohl 1963) actually use both spellings. So, no, Coelophysis is not preoccupied by a snail. But if you stumble upon a reference to a snail named Coelophysis, now you know why.