Zoological Nomenclature

In zoology, the main entry for the binomial is followed by the full surname of the scientist who first published the classification.

Comma is always used between the author’s name and the year e.g. Paramaecium aurelia Ehrenberg, 1833.

There should not be any punctuation mark between the name of the species and the name of the author

New Combination: If the species was assigned in the description to a different genus from that to which it is assigned today, the abbreviation or name of the describer and the description date is set in parentheses. It is called New Combination. Viz Amoeba proteus (Pallas, 1766) Leidy, 1875. This means that Pallas described the species proteus originally in some other genus but Leidy in 1959 transferred it to its correct genus Amoeba.

Use of square bracket [ ]: The use of the citation of the author’s name or the date in full (or part of it) in square brackets indicates that the name has been taken from a indirect source (or other than the original work). The use of square brackets denotes the original anonymity.

When used with a common name, the scientific name usually follows in parentheses. For example, “The house sparrow (Passerus domesticus) is decreasing in Europe.

The abbreviation “sp.” is used when the actual specific name cannot or need not be specified.

The abbreviation “spp.” (plural) indicates “several species”. These are not italicised or underlined. For example: “Canis sp.”, meaning "one species of the genus “Canis”. Derivation of

namesThe two parts of a binomial name - the genus name and specific

descriptor can each be derived from a number of different sources.

Latin words Ancient Greek

Place

Person

Local language

Genus name: Latin singular noun in the nominative. It must be unique within each kingdom, but can be repeated between kingdoms.Species name: Treated grammatically as a Latin word. It can have one of a number of different forms.A.Adjective. The adjective modifies the genus name, and

must agree with it in gender. Latin has three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter, shown by different endings to nouns and adjectives. Some common endings for Latin adjectives in the three genders are

1. Masculine -us, -a, -um e.g. Passerus domesticus 2. Feminine -is, -is, -e e.g. Acridotheis tristis 3. Neuter -or, -or, -us e.g. Parus minorB. Noun in the nominative case. Grammatically the noun is said

to be in apposition to the genus name and the two nouns do not have to agree in gender; e.g. Panthera leo.C. Noun in the genetive (possessive) case: The genitive case is constructed in a number of different ways

‘i’, if the personal name is that of a man e.g. kalitai from Kalita.‘orum’, if man (men) and woman (women) together e.g. goswamiorum from Goswami.‘ae’, if of a woman e.g. sarmae from Sarma.‘arum’ if of women e.g. mahantarum from Mahanta.‘ensis’ or ‘iensis’ are used if the species group name is based on a geographical name e.g. assamensis from Assam.

Shortest and longest binomials Shortest: Ia io Thomas, 1902 (vespertilionid bat)Longest: Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides Brunetti, 1923 (stratiomyid fly)

TautonymTautonym is a scientific name in which the same word

is used for both genus and species, for example Vulpes vulpes (the red fox). Tautonymy (i.e., the usage of tautonymous names) is permissible in zoological

nomenclature.

Shortest tautonymLoa loa (a nematode)Longest tautonymsArchigyrodactylus archigyrodactylus Mizelle & Kritsky, 1967 (flatworm) Icelanonchohaptor icelanonchohaptor Leiby, Kritsky & Peterson, 1972 (flatworm)

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eIn zoological nomenclature, trinomial nomenclature or a trinomen (plural: trinomina), or trinominal name, refers to the name of a subspecies. A trinomen is a name consisting of three names: generic name, specific name, and sub specific name. The first two parts alone form the binomen or species name. •All three names are typeset in italics, and only the generic

name is capitalised. Buteo jamaicensis borealis is one of the subspecies of the red tailed hawk. (Buteo jamaicensis). •If the generic and specific name have already been mentioned in the same paragraph, they are often abbreviated to initial letters: for example one might write, "The Great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo has a distinct subspecies in Australasia, the Black Shag P. c. novaehollandiae".•In a taxonomic publication, a name is incomplete without an author citation and publication details. This indicates who published the name; in what publication; with the date of the publication e.g.,Phalacrocorax carbo novaehollandiae Stephens, 1826

Shortest and longest trinomial tautonymsShortest: Bufo bufo bufo (European toad), Naja naja naja (Sri Lankan cobra) Longest: Coccothraustes coccothraustes coccothraustes (L. 1758) (hawfinch)

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esAvailability is a kind of status which requires that a

name must be taken into account as a part of zoological nomenclature.

Names that are not available, effectively do not exist for the purposes of zoological nomenclature, and cannot enter into synonymy or homonymy, nor can they be used as the names of taxa.A name becomes available only after its publication in scientific literature; unpublished names are unavailable.

So the author publishing a scientific name has to be fully aware whether this name has already been used or is a new one.

For a name already used, one should make sure that it is available (in such case publishing this name will not affect the nomenclature in any way).

In case the intent is to publish a new name, the author must analyze everything in the Code applicable to that case and meet all availability criteria to make sure the suggested name will become available.Availability criteria somewhat vary depending on group

(species-group, genus-group, and family-group). To become available, new names must be published following the criteria in Articles 1.3 & 10-20. The criteria have become stricter over time, reflecting improved standards in nomenclature. Some of the main criteria are as follows: 

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esNames must have been published after 1757. January 1st 1758 is taken to be the start of zoological nomenclature, and deemed to be the publication date of Linnaeus’ 10th edition of Systema Naturae and Clerck’s Aranei Svecici. These two works contain the first available names.The principle of binominal nomenclature must have been applied Species names must be published with a genus name Names published before 1931 can be accompanied by an “indication” instead of a description. E.g. an “indication” could be a reference to a previously published description, or even just an illustration Names published after 1930 must be accompanied by a description that is meant to distinguish the taxon from other taxa, or reference to previously published description or be new replacement names After 1930 genus names must have type species fixed. After 1950 anonymously published names are not available.After 1960 names published for varieties or forms are not available. After 1999 new names must be indicated as new After 1999 type genera of family names must be cited  After 1999 types must be explicitly fixed for species name

Availability is not affected by the inappropriateness of names E.g. the genus name for swifts Apus (from the Greek apous, meaning without feet) is still available, even though birds of this genus have feet.

Names are not available for

e.g. the name “Nessiteras rhombopteryx” coined for the mythical Loch Ness Monster by Sir Peter Scott and Robert Rines in the journal Nature (vol. 258, pp. 466-468) is unavailable because it is a hypothetical concept.

After 1930 for the work of animals

Below the rank of subspecies

Hypothetical concepts

Hybrid specimens

Tertological specimens

Temporary names

A name that is not otherwise available can be ruled available by the Commission.

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