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Binomial nomenclature, as described here, is a system for naming species. Implicitly, it includes a system for naming genera, since the first part of the name of the species is a genus name. In a classification system based on ranks, there are also ways of naming ranks above the level of genus and below the level of species.
The first part of the name – the generic name – identifies the genus to which the species belongs, whereas 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.
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 a species: see Botanical name and Specific name (zoology).
A taxon above the rank of species has a scientific name in one part (a uninominal name). A species has a name typically composed of two parts (a binomial name or binomen): generic name + specific name; for example Canis lupus. Sometimes the name of a subgenus (in parentheses) can be intercalated between the genus name and the specific epithet ...
Noctua variegata (Lepidoptera) was coined by Jung, 1792, and Noctua variegata (Aves) by Quoy & Gaimard, 1830, thus creating a double homonym, until the latter species was placed in a different genus. Both species names are valid. For disambiguating one genus-group name from its homonym, it is important to cite author and year. Citing the author ...
Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical nomenclature is Linnaeus' Species Plantarum of 1753.
The binomial name often reflects limited knowledge or hearsay about a species at the time it was named. For instance Pan troglodytes, the chimpanzee, and Troglodytes troglodytes, the wren, are not necessarily cave-dwellers. Sometimes a genus name or specific descriptor is simply the Latin or Greek name for the animal (e.g. Canis is Latin for ...
An interpolated name is italicized and placed in non-italic parentheses (round brackets); some examples are after a genus name to indicate a subgenus, after a genus group to denote an aggregate of species, after a species name to mean an aggregate of subspecies, after a genus and the word "section" or "sect." to provide a botanical genus ...