species name
English edit
Noun edit
species name (plural species names)
- (taxonomy) A scientific name at the rank of species, with two terms: the generic name (or generic epithet, the genus of the species) and the specific name (a term used only in zoology, never in botany, for the second part of a binomial) or the specific epithet (the term always used in botany, which can also be used in zoology).
- (taxonomy) specific epithet, species epithet, specific name
- 1983, Richard E. White, Peterson Field Guides: Beetles. A Field Guide to the Beetles of North America, page 54:
- Every animal that has been described by scientists has a scientific name, which consists of both a genus and species name. [...] The genus name is capitalized and given first, and the species name is given next [...]
- 2006, V.B. Rastogi, B. Kishore, A Complete Course in ISC Biology. Vol I for Class XI, Unit II p. 7:
- According to this system, each organism, whether plant or animal, bears two names : the first is generic name and second is the species name. [...] For example, the scientific name of modern man is Homo sapiens sapiens, where Homo is the generic name, and sapiens is the species name.
Usage notes edit
The scientific name of a species is typeset in italics, the genus name (alone) having an initial capital letter (the specific epithet is not capitalized); for example the scientific name of the lion is Panthera leo.
Synonyms edit
- (biology, taxonomy): binomen, binomial, binomial name, binominal, binominal name