A few words on scientific names

[Kurt]

When writing a scientific name, its only the genus (the first part of the name) that should be capitalized. The species and subspecies (when applicable) should never be capitalized. Also, the entire name should appear in italics. Examples; Agalychnis callidryas and Ambystoma mavortium mavortium.

[lnaminneci]

Yes, sir! Kurt, sir!

~Lesley

[Whistly]

Who would know this stuff! That's why I love this forum because of the knowledge that gets spewed out everyday.

[bshmerlie]

Of course ....didn't everybody know that? Well, maybe not Eric but the rest of us knew.. Kurt....just curious ...do you actually have the correct spelling of all the names memorized or do you look them up. just one of those things I ponder.

[DonLisk]

Of course ....didn't everybody know that? Well, maybe not Eric but the rest of us knew.. Kurt....just curious ...do you actually have the correct spelling of all the names memorized or do you look them up. just one of those things I ponder.

LOL, I can barely remember my wife's name at times. I may have to create a cheat sheet for quick reference to scientific names ... since I already do that to remember my wife's name by having her on favorites and speed dial.

[clownonfire]

LOL, I can barely remember my wife's name at times. I may have to create a cheat sheet for quick reference to scientific names ... since I already do that to remember my wife's name by having her on favorites and speed dial.

Well this is actually very useful information! Thanks, Kurt.

[Kurt]

Of course ....didn't everybody know that? Well, maybe not Eric but the rest of us knew.. Kurt....just curious ...do you actually have the correct spelling of all the names memorized or do you look them up. just one of those things I ponder.

Some I have to look up, but for the most part I know how to spell most of them right off the top of my head. Here is a few examples;

Melanophryniscus stelzneri
Hypsiboas punctatus
Dendrobates tinctorius
Agalychnis callidryas
Dendropsophus ebraccatus
Rhacophorus reinwardtii
Hyla cinerea
Phrynomantis bifasciatus
Ambystoma maculatum
Ambystoma mavortium
Tylototriton shanjing
Heterometrus spinifer
Narceus americanus
Riopa fernandi
Antaresia maculosa
Xenopeltis unicolor
Coelognathus helenus

And those are just animals I have.

Here's a few more for you;

Pan troglodytes
Panthera onca
Protocyon lotor
Lynx rufus
Didelphis virginius

Bubo virginius
Strix varia
Branta canadensis
Cardinalis cardinalis
Ara militaris

Dendroaspis polylepis
Crocodylus porosus
Crotaphytus collaris
Sphenodon punctatus
Chelus fimbriatus

Pseusotriton ruber
Hylomantis lemur
Ranitomeya benedicta
Herpele multiplicata
Taricha rivularis

Cyphotilapia frontosa
Monodactylus argenteus
Xiphophorus helleri
Betta splendens
Rasbora heteromorpha

Kronosaurus queenlandicus
Triceratops horridus
Tyrannosaurus rex

Pandinus imperator
Scorpio maurus
Brachypelma smithi
Hogna carolinensis
Argiope aurantia

[Leefrogs]

beleive me no one is going to check the spelling on all that!! We would need a frog encyclopedia!! Do they make even make one?

[Leefrogs]

LOL. I second that!

[lnaminneci]

LOL....ok Kurt! We know you are the Scientific Name Master.......

Now don't go whippin' out your pocket protector!


~Lesley

[Heatheranne]

Now your speaking in my language , thanks Kurt! Lol! Medical...Latin

[Namio]

When writing a scientific name, its only the genus (the first part of the name) that should be capitalized. The species and subspecies (when applicable) should never be capitalized. Also, the entire name should appear in italics. Examples; Agalychnis callidryas and Ambystoma mavortium mavortium.

I would also like to build onto what Kurt had suggested.

Once you've mentioned a species name in a body of text, the next time around you can shorten the genus by using its first letter followed by a period, capitalized, of course.

For example, "Dendrobates leucomela is a cute little frog.... but D. leucomela also occurs in other regions..."

Also, once you've mentioned a specific species in a text, other members of the same genus can also be abbreviated by using the first letter of that genus.

For example, "Dendrobates azureus is always blue, whereas D. auratus can sometimes be blue while D. leucomela is yellow."

One conventional way when you're actually writing scientific names with a pen and paper, is that we underline both the genus and species epithet.

For example, it would appears as such on paper (without the quotation marks), "Dendrobates tinctorius"

By the way, the genus of "Dendrobates tinctorius" is "Dendrobates" while the species epithet is "tinctorius." The genus is kind of like our last (family) name, which reveals a kinship where the epithet is nothing but an arbitrarily given name. Just because two guys share a name like "Michael" it does not make them brothers.

[earthtiger]

When writing a scientific name, its only the genus (the first part of the name) that should be capitalized. The species and subspecies (when applicable) should never be capitalized. Also, the entire name should appear in italics. Examples; Agalychnis callidryas and Ambystoma mavortium mavortium.

being a little bit nitpicking:
the species name is set together from the genus name + species epithet, both together is the species name => I capitalize the species name, because the first part of the name (the genus) should be capitalized, but not the species epithet as you mentioned.

...this might be already mentioned in this thread - I haven't red all posts.