This document provides information on zoological nomenclature and the rules for naming species. It discusses the proper formatting for binomial names, including using commas and parentheses. It also describes new combinations when a species is moved to a different genus. Other topics covered include the use of brackets, abbreviations, the derivation of names, and the shortest and longest binomial and trinomial names. The document also discusses availability, which determines whether a published name can be officially recognized.

1. Zoological Nomenclature

2. 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.

3. 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 names
The 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

4. 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 minor
B. 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.

5. Shortest and longest binomials
Shortest: Ia io Thomas, 1902 (vespertilionid bat)
Longest: Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides Brunetti, 1923
(stratiomyid fly)
Tautonym
Tautonym 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 tautonym
Loa loa (a nematode)
Longest tautonyms
Archigyrodactylus archigyrodactylus Mizelle & Kritsky, 1967
(flatworm)
Icelanonchohaptor icelanonchohaptor Leiby, Kritsky & Peterson, 1972
(flatworm)

6. TrinomialNomenclature In 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 tautonyms
Shortest: Bufo bufo bufo (European toad), Naja naja naja (Sri Lankan cobra)
Longest: Coccothraustes coccothraustes coccothraustes (L. 1758) (hawfinch)

7. AvailabilityofNames Availability 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:

8. AvailabilityofNames
Names 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

9. 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.
AvailabilityofNames