Tinnunculite is a naturally-occurring form of dihydrate of uric acid. It should not be confused with a proposed mineral species with the identical name 'tinnunculite', that forms when droppings from a European kestrel react with the burning dumps of coal mines and quarries. The name tinnunculite is derived from the kestrel's

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

, "''Falco tinnunculus''", which is itself derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word , meaning "kestrel", from , meaning "shrill". Tinnunculite is a naturally occurring form of the same type of origin. The mineral is a dihydrate of

uricite Uricite is a rare organic mineral form of uric acid, C5H4N4O3. It is a soft yellowish white mineral which crystallizes in the monoclinic system. Discovery and occurrence It was first described in 1973 for an occurrence in bat guano in Dingo Don ...

to which it is visually very similar. Tinnunculite is chemically similar to other organic minerals:

guanine Guanine () (symbol G or Gua) is one of the four main nucleotide bases found in the nucleic acids DNA and RNA, the others being adenine, cytosine, and thymine ( uracil in RNA). In DNA, guanine is paired with cytosine. The guanine nucleoside ...

; also

acetamide Acetamide (systematic name: ethanamide) is an organic compound with the formula CH3CONH2. It is an amide derived from ammonia and acetic acid. It finds some use as a plasticizer and as an industrial solvent. The related compound ''N'',''N''-dime ...

, kladnoite. A new mineral proposal with the same name but slightly different formula (C₁₀H₁₂N₈O₈) was submitted by Chesnokov & Shcherbakova and ultimately rejected by the

International Mineralogical Association Founded in 1958, the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) is an international group of 40 national societies. The goal is to promote the science of mineralogy and to standardize the nomenclature of the 5000 plus known mineral species. ...

(IMA) on the basis of being of anthropogenic origin.

Localities

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Mount Rasvumchorr Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

Khibiny Massif The Khibiny Mountains ( ; ) is one of the two main mountain ranges of the Kola Peninsula, Russia, within the Arctic Circle, located between Imandra and Umbozero lakes. The range is also known as Khibiny Massif, Khibinsky Mountains, Khibinsky Tu ...

Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...

, Murmanskaja Oblast, Northern Region.

Localities

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See also