Scientific nomenclature is based on a taxonomic classification system. Taxonomic classification is a hierarchical system used to classify and compare organisms. There are 8 ranks in this system, listed below in the order of the most general (broadest) to the most specific: 1. Domain 2. Kingdom 3. Phylum 4. Class 5. Order 6. Family 7. Genus 8. Species Prokaryotic organisms like bacteria may have
classifications below the species level, including strain, subspecies, serotype, morphotype or variety. Taxonomic classification indicates how closely organisms are related. For example, two organisms sharing the same Class are more closely related than two organisms sharing the same Phylum.
Binomial nomenclature: The scientific name of an organism consists of two words: the genus name and the specific epithet. The genus name comes first and is always capitalized; once identified it can be abbreviated to a single letter. The second word is known as the specific epithet and is not capitalized. The two words together make up the scientific name or species name. The genus can be used alone (you can refer to the genus Staphylococcus or the genus Bacillus) but the specific epithet without the genus name has no scientific significance. Scientific names in print should always be either italicized or underlined and should always be underlined when written. For example, the scientific name for human beings is Homo sapiens or H. sapiens. The scientific name of a bacterium is Staphylococcus aureus or S. aureus.
The scientific name often includes a description of the characteristics of an organism. The scientific name Staphylococcus aureus tells you the morphology and arrangement of the individual cells belonging to this bacterial genus (staphylococcus = spheres in clusters) and also tells you that S. aureus often grows in colonies with a golden color (“aureus”). Although scientific names are often descriptive occasionally these descriptions can be deceiving. For example, Haemophilus influenza is a bacterium (not a virus), and does not cause influenza.
Last updated date: 05th Jan 2023
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Hint: The scientific naming is done on the naming system adopted universally. In this naming system the name of an organism is made using its genus name and its species name. This system of naming is effective as an organism can have many local names but has only one scientific name which can be used by everyone.
Complete answer:
Carolus Linnaeus gave the binomial nomenclature system. in this type of nomenclature, the plants and the animals are named using Latin
words. Due to which the names are either underlined when handwritten or are written in italics. The name of the organism is kept on the genus and species name which the organism belongs to. The genus name has the first letter written in capital and the rest written in small letters. The species name is also written in small letters and never in the capital letters. Some name of the organism also carries the name of the scientist who discovered or named them. The names of the scientists are
written in short forms or in abbreviations. Mangifera indica Linn . is the scientific name of Mango. In this name, the Mangifera is the genus and indica is the species of mango. Linn. is the name of Carolus Linnaeus who coined this name.
So, the correct answer is ‘Mangifera indica Linn .’
Note: The binomial nomenclature is the naming system accepted universally by all the biologists. In this type of naming system, the organism is named on the basis of the genus and species epithet it belongs to.
“Binomial nomenclature is the biological system of naming the organisms in which the name is composed of two terms, where, the first term indicates the genus and the second term indicates the species of the organism.”
The system of binomial nomenclature was introduced by Carl Linnaeus. Multiple local names make it extremely difficult to identify an organism globally and keep a track of the number of species. Thus, it creates a lot of confusion. To get rid of this confusion, a standard protocol came up. According to it, each and every organism would have one scientific name which would be used by everyone to identify an organism. This process of standardized naming is called as Binomial Nomenclature.
All living species including plants, animals, birds and also some microbes have their own scientific names. For eg.,
- The scientific name of the tiger is presented as Panthera tigris. ‘Panthera’ represents the genus and ‘Tigris’ represents a particular species or specific epithet.
- The scientific name of humans is presented as Homo sapiens. ‘Homo’ represents the genus and ‘sapiens’ represents a particular species.
- The Indian bullfrog is scientifically written as Rana tigrina. ‘Rana’ is the name of the genus and ‘tigrina’ is the name of the specific species.
Also Read: Taxonomy
Rules of Binomial Nomenclature
A Biologist from all over the world follows a uniform set of principles for naming the organisms. There are two international codes which are agreed upon by all the biologists over the entire world for the naming protocol. They are:
- International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) – Deals with the biological nomenclature for plants.
- 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 of 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.
Why is Binomial Nomenclature Important?
As stated previously, there are millions of species of organisms distributed throughout the world. Furthermore, the same organisms are known by different names around the world and this can cause confusion when trying to identify or classify. Hence, binomial nomenclature was seen as a viable solution to this problem.
Drawbacks of Binomial Nomenclature
Some of the basic drawbacks of binomial nomenclature are:
- If two or more names are currently in use, according to the law of priority, the correct name will be the one used first and the others end up being synonyms as validity is the senior synonym. Providing stability in the naming and classification of organisms must be emphasized.
- Also, the names used prior to those included in the “Systema Naturae”, by Linnaeus are not recognized.
Also Read: Biological classification
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