Nomenclature

1. A scientific name is universally used for a particular species or particular group of organisms. This helps to avoid the confusion which may arise by use of local (or vernacular) names which differ in different parts of the world.
2. Scientific names give descriptive information about the species; the taxonomist can determine from the description exactly the kind of organism to which the name has been given.
3. The names used are uniformly binomial specifying the name of the genus and species of the organism hence organisms with similar evolutionary history are classified together.
4. The scientific name allows information about organisms to be organized and found easily.
5. Help biologists to avoid errors in communication. Rules followed in the procedure of scientific naming favors stability.

The system adopted internationally in assigning scientific name is the binomial system of nomenclature. This is the standard system of nomenclature.

It is a system of naming where the organism is given two words name, the first word standing for the genus (generic name) followed by the second word denoting species (the specific name).

The system was introduced by Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778), a Swedish naturalist.

The term binomial comes from two Latin words (bi = two; nomen = name).

1. Every organism can have only one scientific name.
2. A scientific name of each species is a binomial name. This is made up of two parts, a specific (species) name and a generic (genus) name. For example, scientific name of man is Homo sapiens. Homo – generic name, sapiens – specific name.
3. The scientific name should be in italics if printed and underlined if handwritten.
4. The generic name should always begin with a capital letter but the specific name should not. For example, the name of the mango plant is Mangifera indica.
5. All scientific names should be in Latin or Latinized.
6. The name of the author should in most cases be included at the end of the biological name. If the author is well known, e.g., Linnaeus, only the first letter is written at the end, e.g., Canis lupus (L.) or Homo sapiens (L.) or (Linn), where L or Linn is the abbreviated form of Linnaeus.
7. When several different names have been given to an organism, the earlier name that was published after the Linnaeus system of classification is to be considered.
8. Within a kingdom, no two genera can have the same name and within a genus, no two species can have the same name.

Example of scientific names