Nomenclature — Definition, Meaning & Synonyms

Nomenclature Definition

A method of naming organisms in biological taxonomy is known as nomenclature. In the 1750s, Carolus Linnaeus developed what is known as the Linnaea system for binomial naming.

Following Linnaeus’ work, a profusion of binomial names occurred as new species were discovered and higher taxonomy categories were created, which led to significant nomenclatural confusion by the late 19th century for numerous groups of organisms.

International committees’ creation of guidelines in the 20th century for zoology, botany, bacteriology, and virology. Carl Linnaeus invented the binomial nomenclature system.

When an organism has several local names, it might be challenging to identify it worldwide and to maintain track of the different species. There is a lot of miscommunication as a result. The creation of a standard procedure removed this ambiguity.

According to this, each creature will have a unique scientific name that will be used to identify all living things. The term used to describe this approach of standardizing names is binomial nomenclature. The word “nomenclature” is derived from a Latin word that means “naming.”

Homo sapiens is the designation given to the human species under the nomenclatural naming system. Animals like cats and dogs have distinctive names as well, in addition to humans.

In this post, you’ll discover new names and learn about additional fascinating subjects like binomial nomenclature. There are numerous living things on the earth, and because we are unable to discuss any one of them without mentioning their name, each one has been given a name. As a result, words like dog, cat, monkey, rose, etc. exist.

Because organisms are known by several names in various languages, their common names are frequently erroneous and cause misunderstanding.

For instance, the cat is a well-known animal and is referred to as “bills” in Hindi, “puna” in Tamil, “backup” in Kannada, and so on. As a result, given its multiple names, one specific organism cannot be predicted or identified.

Organisms are given scientific or precise names, and this naming system is known as nomenclature, to prevent this mistake.

Binomial Nomenclature

All living things have scientific names, including animals, plants, birds, and certain bacteria. For instance, Panthera tigris is given as the tiger’s scientific name. ‘Panthera’ stands for the genus, and ‘Tigris’ for a specific species or epithet.

Homo sapiens is the moniker given to mankind by scientists. “Homo” refers to the genus and “sapiens” to a particular species.

The Indian bullfrog is referred to by its scientific name, Rana tigrina. Rana is the genus’ official name, and Tigrina is the name of the specific species. In the area of nomenclature, several scientists conducted numerous forms of study and experiments. But Carolus Linnaeus, who is often regarded as the founder of Taxonomy, created the most palatable and practical naming system in the year 1753.

He suggested that each species’ name should consist of two words: the first word referring to the genus (generic name) and the second word referring to the kind (specific name) of the organism. This type of naming system is known as binomial nomenclature since it has two components.

The term “binomial nomenclature” is defined as “the scientific name of a living thing using two components.”

Rules of Binomial Nomenclature

A standard set of guidelines is followed by biologists from all around the world when naming creatures. Two international standards that are recognized by all biologists in the world standardize the naming procedure are following:

1. The International Standards of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) cover the biological nomenclature of plants.

2. The biological nomenclature of animals is covered by the International Standards of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).

Conventions are followed in the naming. There are two elements to any scientific name:

· Common name

· Particular epithet

The remaining guidelines for composing the scientific names of organisms according to binomial nomenclature are as follows:

· Latin is often used for all scientific names of organisms. A name has two components.

· To indicate its Latin heritage, this is done.

· The name of the species comes before the name of the genus, which begins with a capital letter.

Advantages of Binomial Nomenclature

The following are some benefits of binomial nomenclature:

1. Scientific names are used everywhere in the world.

2. There is only one distinct name for each species.

3. The name given by scientists provides crucial information about the traits of the organisms.

4. Greek and Latin are the sources of the scientific nomenclature. Therefore, there is no likelihood that the name’s meaning will alter.

5. A species’ name reveals its kinship to other members of the same genus.

6. It facilitates clear communication among scientists and researchers throughout the world.

Principles of Nomenclature

The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), which strive to provide reliable systems for identifying species and discourage the use of names that create mistakes or confusion, provided rules or principles for binomial nomenclature.

The following are the rules or principles of nomenclature:

· The scientific name has two components. “Genus name” or “Generic name” refers to the first component. The “Species name” or “Specific name” is the second component. Example: The human is known scientifically as Homo sapiens.

· While a species’ name should start with a tiny letter, the name of the genus should always be capitalized.

· The name of the discipline must be printed in italics and underlined individually if it is written by hand. Example: Homo sapiens is in italics.

· Without punctuation or underlining, the name of the person who coined the phrase is included at the conclusion (after the species or subspecies). As an illustration: Mangifera indica Linn (Linnaeus, the scientist who originally characterized the plant, is identified by the prefix “Linn” in this instance).

· The scientific term is written in Latin or Greek; when words from other languages are included, they are Latinized. For instance: “Ficus benghalensis” is the scientific name for the banyan tree.