Parasaurolophus means near saurolophus because it looks like saurolophus even though it’s not really related. And then became more famous. Mastodonsaurus is a giant salamander. Gulo Gulo is the wolverine and means gluttonX2
The mnemonic device I learned and teach for taxonomy is Large Dangerous Kangaroos Punching Children On Family Game Shows. You always start with Life because things like viruses exist. As said here though, in every taxonomic level we have suites of characteristics. The Domaine Eukarya for example is defined by large cells, a true nucleus and membrane bound organelles among other things. In taxonomy, the levels of life are: Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species All animals follow this, but it's slightly different for various other types of life. What about us? Well Humans are: Domaine- Eukarya Kingdom- Animalia Phylum- Chordata Class- Mammalia Order- Primate Family- Hominidae Genus- Homo Species- sapien There are various other levels within these levels also said here. You have Super, Sub, Parv and Infra which are the most common you'll see. There are also Clades and Tribes. Primates for example have two extant Suborders, Haplorhini and Strepsirrhini. We are Haplorhines. Within the Suborder Haplorhini we have two Infraorders, Tarsiiformes and Simiiformes. We are Simiiformes. So in reality we can describe humans in much more detail like this. We are Eukaryotes, organisms made of one or more nucleated cells. We are Animals as we can't produce our own energy and have cell membranes instead of cell walls. We are Chordates because we have nerve chords. We are Vertebrates because our spinal chord is protected by our vertebrae and we are Mammals because we are covered in body hair, females of our species can produce milk and we have a four chambered heart. We are Eutherians because we have a bellybutton, indicative of our ability to give birth to live young. We are Primates as we have large brains relative to our body size, we have dexterous hands, flexible shoulders, and binocular color vision. We are Haplorhines, because we can't synthesize our own vitamin C, we have dry noses rather than wet, and we also don't have split lips although we do have the remnants of it. We are Simiiformes, anthropoid primates with complex social systems with which we communicate with others and we also have unique structures with regard our hind feet, teeth, orbits and an even larger brain to body ratio. We are Catarrhinis as we have nostrils pointing down, we have a 2-1-2-3 dental format, and we lack a prehensile tails. We are also Hominids as we have a Y shaped molar pattern, even more reduced caudal vertebrae, and an increased ability for bipedality. Now we reach Hominines. Hominins use tools. We all have a proto culture in which we teach tool use to our young, we all have these long gestational periods of 8-9 months and long parental care periods to nurture our big brains. Of the Hominins, we are of course the genus Homo, and we are the species sapien. I could explain all of these in far more detail as they are all defined by suites of characteristics, but I think you get the point. All of these levels have lists of characteristics that define them. I recomend a video by Gutsick Gibbon where she walks you through how Nested Hierarchies work.
