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Nomenclature codes

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Nomenclature codes or codes of nomenclature are the various rulebooks that govern the naming of living organisms. Standardizing the scientific names of biological organisms allows researchers to discuss findings (including the discovery of new species).

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51-399: As the study of biology became increasingly specialized, specific codes were adopted for different types of organism. To an end-user who only deals with names of species, with some awareness that species are assignable to genera , families , and other taxa of higher ranks, it may not be noticeable that there is more than one code, but beyond this basic level these are rather different in

102-463: A binomen , binominal name, or a scientific name ; more informally it is also historically called a Latin name . In the ICZN, the system is also called binominal nomenclature , "binomi'N'al" with an "N" before the "al", which is not a typographic error, meaning "two-name naming system". The first part of the name – the generic name – identifies the genus to which the species belongs, whereas

153-557: A species : see Botanical name and Specific name (zoology) . The rules for the scientific names of organisms are laid down in the nomenclature codes , which allow each species a single unique name that, for animals (including protists ), plants (also including algae and fungi ) and prokaryotes ( bacteria and archaea ), is Latin and binomial in form; this contrasts with common or vernacular names , which are non-standardized, can be non-unique, and typically also vary by country and language of usage. Except for viruses ,

204-522: A clean sweep in 1980 (Skerman et al., "Approved Lists of Bacterial Names"), although maintaining the original authors and dates of publication. Exceptions in botany: Exceptions in zoology: There are also differences in the way codes work. For example, the ICN (the code for algae, fungi and plants) forbids tautonyms , while the ICZN , (the animal code) allows them. These codes differ in terminology, and there

255-651: A later homonym of a validly published name is a nomen illegitimum or nom. illeg. ; for a full list refer to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants and the work cited above by Hawksworth, 2010. In place of the "valid taxon" in zoology, the nearest equivalent in botany is " correct name " or "current name" which can, again, differ or change with alternative taxonomic treatments or new information that results in previously accepted genera being combined or split. Prokaryote and virus codes of nomenclature also exist which serve as

306-628: A long time and redescribed as new by a range of subsequent workers, or if a range of genera previously considered separate taxa have subsequently been consolidated into one. For example, the World Register of Marine Species presently lists 8 genus-level synonyms for the sperm whale genus Physeter Linnaeus, 1758, and 13 for the bivalve genus Pecten O.F. Müller, 1776. Within the same kingdom, one generic name can apply to one genus only. However, many names have been assigned (usually unintentionally) to two or more different genera. For example,

357-409: A reference for designating currently accepted genus names as opposed to others which may be either reduced to synonymy, or, in the case of prokaryotes, relegated to a status of "names without standing in prokaryotic nomenclature". An available (zoological) or validly published (botanical) name that has been historically applied to a genus but is not regarded as the accepted (current/valid) name for

408-773: A scientific umbrella organization, it was a founding member of the International Council for Science (ICSU). The Union was founded in 1919 following the work of the Conference of Allied Academies of Sciences held in Brussels. Originally, the 'S' was not for 'Science' but for 'Societies'. After defining its constitution and organization in 1925, the IUBS adheres to the International Research Council (International Council for Science), which

459-434: A taxon is split, it is not obvious which new group takes the existing name. Meanwhile, with typified names, the existing name is taken by the new group that still bears the type of this name. However, typified names present special problems for microorganisms. Genus Genus ( / ˈ dʒ iː n ə s / ; pl. : genera / ˈ dʒ ɛ n ər ə / ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in

510-427: A taxon; however, the names published in suppressed works are made unavailable via the relevant Opinion dealing with the work in question. In botany, similar concepts exist but with different labels. The botanical equivalent of zoology's "available name" is a validly published name . An invalidly published name is a nomen invalidum or nom. inval. ; a rejected name is a nomen rejiciendum or nom. rej. ;

561-455: A total of c. 520,000 published names (including synonyms) as at end 2019, increasing at some 2,500 published generic names per year. "Official" registers of taxon names at all ranks, including genera, exist for a few groups only such as viruses and prokaryotes, while for others there are compendia with no "official" standing such as Index Fungorum for fungi, Index Nominum Algarum and AlgaeBase for algae, Index Nominum Genericorum and

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612-565: Is a long-term project to "harmonize" this. For instance, the ICN uses "valid" in "valid publication of a name" (=the act of publishing a formal name), with "establishing a name" as the ICZN equivalent. The ICZN uses "valid" in "valid name" (="correct name"), with "correct name" as the ICN equivalent. Harmonization is making very limited progress. There are differences in respect of what kinds of types are used. The bacteriological code prefers living type cultures, but allows other kinds. There has been ongoing debate regarding which kind of type

663-504: Is applied primarily to the ranks of superfamily and below. There are some rules for names above the rank of superfamily, but the principle of priority does not apply to them, and the principle of typification is optional. These names may be either automatically typified names or be descriptive names . In some circumstances, a taxon has two possible names (e.g., Chrysophyceae Pascher, 1914, nom. descrip. ; Hibberd, 1976, nom. typificatum ). Descriptive names are problematic, once that, if

714-612: Is discouraged by both the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants , there are some five thousand such names in use in more than one kingdom. For instance, A list of generic homonyms (with their authorities), including both available (validly published) and selected unavailable names, has been compiled by the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG). The type genus forms

765-715: Is given in the General Assembly and the project progresses through conferences and then implementation through funding agencies. The Executive Committee consists of: the President, the former president, two Vice-Presidents, the Secretary, the Treasurer and other members of the Extended Board. The Board meets annually. The Secretariat, with its Executive Director coordinates the programs and activities. In

816-513: Is more useful in a case like cyanobacteria . A more radical approach was made in 1997 when the IUBS / IUMS International Committee on Bionomenclature (ICB) presented the long debated Draft BioCode , proposed to replace all existing Codes with an harmonization of them. The originally planned implementation date for the BioCode draft was January 1, 2000, but agreement to replace the existing Codes

867-650: Is now known as the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). From 1925 to 1939, the IUBS worked on two main themes: information science and environment. This second project resulted in the creation of the World Conservation Union . The Union was a founding member of the ICSU Scientific Committee and works closely with UNESCO . It also maintains relations with the World Health Organization (WHO),

918-460: Is somewhat arbitrary. Although all species within a genus are supposed to be "similar", there are no objective criteria for grouping species into genera. There is much debate among zoologists about whether enormous, species-rich genera should be maintained, as it is extremely difficult to come up with identification keys or even character sets that distinguish all species. Hence, many taxonomists argue in favor of breaking down large genera. For instance,

969-474: Is the type species , and the generic name is permanently associated with the type specimen of its type species. Should the specimen turn out to be assignable to another genus, the generic name linked to it becomes a junior synonym and the remaining taxa in the former genus need to be reassessed. In zoological usage, taxonomic names, including those of genera, are classified as "available" or "unavailable". Available names are those published in accordance with

1020-669: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It cooperates with the European Commission and numerous other organizations, agencies, and foundations. The Union currently consists of: The national and the academic members bring areas of biological science to the attention of the Union. The Union then reviews the members' suggestions. Approval

1071-621: The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ; the earliest such name for any taxon (for example, a genus) should then be selected as the " valid " (i.e., current or accepted) name for the taxon in question. Consequently, there will be more available names than valid names at any point in time; which names are currently in use depending on the judgement of taxonomists in either combining taxa described under multiple names, or splitting taxa which may bring available names previously treated as synonyms back into use. "Unavailable" names in zoology comprise names that either were not published according to

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1122-824: The International Plant Names Index for plants in general, and ferns through angiosperms, respectively, and Nomenclator Zoologicus and the Index to Organism Names for zoological names. Totals for both "all names" and estimates for "accepted names" as held in the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG) are broken down further in the publication by Rees et al., 2020 cited above. The accepted names estimates are as follows, broken down by kingdom: The cited ranges of uncertainty arise because IRMNG lists "uncertain" names (not researched therein) in addition to known "accepted" names;

1173-481: The biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses . In binomial nomenclature , the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomists . The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including

1224-639: The gut fungi . Other problematic groups are the Cyanobacteria (ICNP/ICN) and Microsporidia (ICZN/ICN). The zoological code does not regulate names of taxa lower than subspecies or higher than superfamily. There are many attempts to introduce some order on the nomenclature of these taxa, including the PhyloCode , the Duplostensional Nomenclatural System, and circumscriptional nomenclature . The botanical code

1275-404: The platypus belongs to the genus Ornithorhynchus although George Shaw named it Platypus in 1799 (these two names are thus synonyms ) . However, the name Platypus had already been given to a group of ambrosia beetles by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1793. A name that means two different things is a homonym . Since beetles and platypuses are both members of the kingdom Animalia,

1326-473: The French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708) is considered "the founder of the modern concept of genera". The scientific name (or the scientific epithet) of a genus is also called the generic name ; in modern style guides and science, it is always capitalised. It plays a fundamental role in binomial nomenclature , the system of naming organisms , where it is combined with the scientific name of

1377-467: The General Assembly, each national member has one vote. The scientific members are invited to send one representative each to the talks and make programmatic proposals. The General Assembly elects the Executive Board for the proposed projects, selects the scientific programs of the Union, reviews the progress of scientific programs, collaborates with other international organizations and decides on

1428-596: The Linnean system in phylogenetic classification. In fact, early proponents of rank-based nomenclature, such as Alphonse de Candolle and the authors of the 1886 version of the American Ornithologists' Union code of nomenclature already envisioned that in the future, rank-based nomenclature would have to be abandoned. Another Code that was developed since 1998 is the PhyloCode , which now regulates names defined under phylogenetic nomenclature instead of

1479-782: The allocation of funding. The General Assembly takes place in parallel to a scientific conference, organized in cooperation with the National Union Committee of the host country. The scientific programmes of the General Assembly are approved in accordance with the Statutes of the Union. Diversitas, Human Dimensions of Biodiversity, Climate Change Integrative Biology (ICCB), Systematics Agenda, Biological Education (BioED), IUBS Bioethics Ethics Committee earlier, Bionomenclature, Biology and Traditional Knowledge, Biological Consequences of Global Change (BCGC) Darwin200, Biosystematics, Species 2000, Genomics and Evolution, Modernizing

1530-442: The base for higher taxonomic ranks, such as the family name Canidae ("Canids") based on Canis . However, this does not typically ascend more than one or two levels: the order to which dogs and wolves belong is Carnivora ("Carnivores"). The numbers of either accepted, or all published genus names is not known precisely; Rees et al., 2020 estimate that approximately 310,000 accepted names (valid taxa) may exist, out of

1581-540: The codes to meet future needs of scientific communities (Biocode), Biology Research and Education Resources in Africa, Reproductive Biology, Aquaculture, Bio-Energy and Towards an Integrative Biology (TAIB), Global Species List Working Group (GSLWG). The institution publishes four times a year Biology International and other publications such as the IUBS Monograph Series , Methodology Manual Series and

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1632-1080: The first names established under that code. Some protists , sometimes called ambiregnal protists , have been considered to be both protozoa and algae , or protozoa and fungi , and names for these have been published under either or both of the ICZN and the ICN . The resulting double language throughout protist classification schemes resulted in confusion. Groups claimed by both protozoologists and phycologists include euglenids , dinoflagellates , cryptomonads , haptophytes , glaucophytes , many heterokonts (e.g., chrysophytes , raphidophytes , silicoflagellates , some xanthophytes , proteromonads ), some monadoid green algae ( volvocaleans and prasinophytes ), choanoflagellates , bicosoecids , ebriids and chlorarachniophytes . Slime molds , plasmodial forms and other " fungus-like " organisms claimed by both protozoologists and mycologists include mycetozoans , plasmodiophorids , acrasids , and labyrinthulomycetess . Fungi claimed by both protozoologists and mycologists include chytrids , blastoclads , and

1683-446: The form "author, year" in zoology, and "standard abbreviated author name" in botany. Thus in the examples above, the genus Canis would be cited in full as " Canis Linnaeus, 1758" (zoological usage), while Hibiscus , also first established by Linnaeus but in 1753, is simply " Hibiscus L." (botanical usage). Each genus should have a designated type , although in practice there is a backlog of older names without one. In zoology, this

1734-737: The generic name (or its abbreviated form) still forms the leading portion of the scientific name, for example, Canis lupus lupus for the Eurasian wolf subspecies, or as a botanical example, Hibiscus arnottianus ssp. immaculatus . Also, as visible in the above examples, the Latinised portions of the scientific names of genera and their included species (and infraspecies, where applicable) are, by convention, written in italics . The scientific names of virus species are descriptive, not binomial in form, and may or may not incorporate an indication of their containing genus; for example,

1785-432: The idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: Moreover, genera should be composed of phylogenetic units of the same kind as other (analogous) genera. The term "genus" comes from Latin genus , a noun form cognate with gignere ('to bear; to give birth to'). The Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus popularized its use in his 1753 Species Plantarum , but

1836-633: The largest component, with 23,236 ± 5,379 accepted genus names, of which 20,845 ± 4,494 are angiosperms (superclass Angiospermae). By comparison, the 2018 annual edition of the Catalogue of Life (estimated >90% complete, for extant species in the main) contains currently 175,363 "accepted" genus names for 1,744,204 living and 59,284 extinct species, also including genus names only (no species) for some groups. The number of species in genera varies considerably among taxonomic groups. For instance, among (non-avian) reptiles , which have about 1180 genera,

1887-425: The lizard genus Anolis has been suggested to be broken down into 8 or so different genera which would bring its ~400 species to smaller, more manageable subsets. International Union of Biological Sciences The International Union of Biological Sciences ( IUBS ) is a non-profit organization and non-governmental organization founded in 1919 that promotes biological sciences internationally. As

1938-403: The most (>300) have only 1 species, ~360 have between 2 and 4 species, 260 have 5–10 species, ~200 have 11–50 species, and only 27 genera have more than 50 species. However, some insect genera such as the bee genera Lasioglossum and Andrena have over 1000 species each. The largest flowering plant genus, Astragalus , contains over 3,000 species. Which species are assigned to a genus

1989-428: The name could not be used for both. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach published the replacement name Ornithorhynchus in 1800. However, a genus in one kingdom is allowed to bear a scientific name that is in use as a generic name (or the name of a taxon in another rank) in a kingdom that is governed by a different nomenclature code. Names with the same form but applying to different taxa are called "homonyms". Although this

2040-417: The naming of: The starting point, that is the time from which these codes are in effect (usually retroactively), varies from group to group, and sometimes from rank to rank. In botany and mycology , the starting point is often 1 May 1753 ( Linnaeus , Species plantarum ). In zoology , it is 1 January 1758 (Linnaeus, Systema Naturae , 10th Edition ). On the other hand, bacteriology started anew, making

2091-541: The provisions of the ICZN Code, e.g., incorrect original or subsequent spellings, names published only in a thesis, and generic names published after 1930 with no type species indicated. According to "Glossary" section of the zoological Code, suppressed names (per published "Opinions" of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature) remain available but cannot be used as the valid name for

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2142-727: The second part – the specific name or specific epithet – distinguishes the species within the genus. For example, modern humans belong to the genus Homo and within this genus to the species Homo sapiens . Tyrannosaurus rex is likely the most widely known binomial. The formal introduction of this system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus , effectively beginning with his work Species Plantarum in 1753. But as early as 1622, Gaspard Bauhin introduced in his book Pinax theatri botanici (English, Illustrated exposition of plants ) containing many names of genera that were later adopted by Linnaeus. The introduction of two-part names (binominal nomenclature) for species by Linnaeus

2193-497: The specific name particular to the wolf. A botanical example would be Hibiscus arnottianus , a particular species of the genus Hibiscus native to Hawaii. The specific name is written in lower-case and may be followed by subspecies names in zoology or a variety of infraspecific names in botany . When the generic name is already known from context, it may be shortened to its initial letter, for example, C. lupus in place of Canis lupus . Where species are further subdivided,

2244-412: The standard format for a species name comprises the generic name, indicating the genus to which the species belongs, followed by the specific epithet, which (within that genus) is unique to the species. For example, the gray wolf 's scientific name is Canis lupus , with Canis ( Latin for 'dog') being the generic name shared by the wolf's close relatives and lupus (Latin for 'wolf') being

2295-403: The taxon is termed a synonym ; some authors also include unavailable names in lists of synonyms as well as available names, such as misspellings, names previously published without fulfilling all of the requirements of the relevant nomenclatural code, and rejected or suppressed names. A particular genus name may have zero to many synonyms, the latter case generally if the genus has been known for

2346-407: The traditional Linnaean nomenclature . This new approach requires using phylogenetic definitions that refer to "specifiers", analogous to "type" under rank-based nomenclature. Such definitions delimit taxa under a given phylogeny, and this kind of nomenclature does not require use of absolute ranks. The Code took effect in 2020, with the publication of Phylonyms , a monograph that includes a list of

2397-576: The values quoted are the mean of "accepted" names alone (all "uncertain" names treated as unaccepted) and "accepted + uncertain" names (all "uncertain" names treated as accepted), with the associated range of uncertainty indicating these two extremes. Within Animalia, the largest phylum is Arthropoda , with 151,697 ± 33,160 accepted genus names, of which 114,387 ± 27,654 are insects (class Insecta). Within Plantae, Tracheophyta (vascular plants) make up

2448-429: The virus species " Salmonid herpesvirus 1 ", " Salmonid herpesvirus 2 " and " Salmonid herpesvirus 3 " are all within the genus Salmonivirus ; however, the genus to which the species with the formal names " Everglades virus " and " Ross River virus " are assigned is Alphavirus . As with scientific names at other ranks, in all groups other than viruses, names of genera may be cited with their authorities, typically in

2499-411: The way they work. 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 , although they can be based on words from other languages. Such a name is called a binomial name (which may be shortened to just "binomial"),

2550-523: Was a welcome simplification because as our knowledge of biodiversity expanded, so did the length of the names, many of which had become unwieldy. With all naturalists worldwide adopting binominal nomenclature, there arose several schools of thought about the details. It became ever more apparent that a detailed body of rules was necessary to govern scientific names . From the mid-19th century onwards, there were several initiatives to arrive at worldwide-accepted sets of rules. Presently nomenclature codes govern

2601-456: Was not reached. In 2011, a revised BioCode was proposed that, instead of replacing the existing Codes , would provide a unified context for them, referring to them when necessary. Changes in the existing codes are slowly being made in the proposed directions. However, participants of the last serious discussion of the draft BioCode concluded that it would probably not be implemented in their lifetimes. Many authors encountered problems in using

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