I was looking through a list of words that normally are written in kana, instead of their kanji. Two caught my attention because the list has them written in katakana, instead of hiragana. But, as neither are 外来語, writing them in katakana seems strange.
When given no context, is it true that both "honey bee" and "dolphin" are written in katakana (instead of hiragana)?
(Note: I do not care about any theory as to "why" they are exceptions. Simply, when there is no context and they are just words in a list, should both be written in katakana?)
Here is the full list of animals written in kana, instead of kanji:
あかんぼう baby, infant
イルカ dolphin
うさぎ a rabbit
かたつむり snail
きつね a fox
くらげ a jellyfish
とら tiger
とんぼ dragon fly
ばら rose
ミツバチ honey bee
やまあらし porcupine
やもめ a widow
りす a squirrel
Answer
When given no context, is it true that both "honey bee" and "dolphin" are written in katakana (instead of hiragana)?
Yes, but using hiragana is perfectly acceptable.
Names of species is one area where katakana is very often used, but there seem to be no rule to tell which is more widely used to write a specific name. In the examples you mentioned above, ウサギ，カタツムリ， etc. are equally common, and I can't really say which (katakana vs. hiragana) is more common. I feel イルカ is more often seen than いるか, but I wouldn't find it odd if I see いるか without context. (There are contexts where one is probably preferred over the other, but I think this is out of topic for this question).
The common custom to write names of species (plants, animals, insects..) seems to have derived from the convention of academic fields.
Several informations that might interest you:
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