Universal rules of nomenclature: After classification, organisms are subjected to a format of two-word naming system called binomial nomenclature. It consists of two components, i.e., generic name and specific epithet.

Universal Rules of Nomenclature

Now that we have understood that binomial nomenclature is the system of naming an organism using two names, let’s understand the universal rules for writing the scientific name of any given organism. There are  rules one must follow to write the scientific name correctly.

• The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) – Deals with the biological nomenclature for plants.
• The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) – Deals with the biological nomenclature of animals.
• These codes make sure that each organism gets a specific name and that name is globally identified.
• The naming follows certain conventions. Each scientific name has two parts
  • Generic name
  • Specific epithet
• The rest of the binomial nomenclature rules for writing the scientific names of organisms include the following:
• All the scientific names of organisms are usually Latin. Hence, they are written in italics.
• There exist two parts to a name. The first word identifies the genus and the second word identifies the species.
• When the names are handwritten, they are underlined or italicized if typed. This is done to specify its Latin origin.
• The name of the genus starts with a capital letter and the name of the species starts with a small letter.

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By Team Learning Mantras