Anoplogaster
Arachnodemon
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2017
- Messages
- 675
Hello everyone,
I often see a lot of variation in the way scientific names are written and pronounced in this hobby. As a person who comes from a science and museum background, I am hoping to clarify the proper usage of scientific names for anyone who is interested. There are very specific rules on this that I will talk about here
First of all, a scientific name is the combination of a genus (plural "genera") name and a species name, and are the tail end of a long list of categories and subcategories. Please note that the word "species" is both singular and plural form. "Specie" is not proper. But not to worry. The way modern phylogenetics is going, they will probably all be referred to as clades and lineages in the future.... Stay tuned!
Proper format: So, believe it or not, there is actually a proper format to write and type scientific names. The genus always begins with a capital letter, and the species always begins with a lowercase letter. Additionally, scientific names are also always typewritten in italics. If they are handwritten, they must be underlined. If you are referring to a species who's genus is already known to the reader (either through prior knowledge, or you already stated the full genus earlier in the manuscript), then you can simply use a capital letter followed by a period, and the species name written in full. So, "Brachypelma smithi" becomes "B. smithi."
If you are referring to a single unknown species of a known genus, you note the species with "sp" followed by a period. So you would write it as "Brachypelma sp." This is actually different if you are referring to multiple unknown species within a single known genus. In the case of multiple species, you note the species as "spp" followed by a period. So, referring to multiple species of Brachypelma would look like "Brachypelma spp." Now, in the case of an unknown species, you should NEVER abbreviate the genus name. I see this all the time with Euathlus, where people write it as "E. sp." Never ever do that! That is nails-on-a-chalkboard bad in science, because it is simply too broad.
Finally, I'm sure most people realize that many tarantula species are named after people. B. smithi is a great example of that. It was obviously named after a man by the name of Smith. How do I know it was a man? Because it ends with an "i." Proper naming conventions for species names actually identifies the gender of the person being honored. Named after a male, it ends in "i." Named after a female person, it ends in "ae." Now, pronunciation of these names is where people get confused. Most people know that the latin pronunciation of "i" typically takes the "ee" sound, or it is soft as in the word "bit." However, a vowel that is the last letter of the word is actually pronounced with the hard sound. Therefore, the "i" at the end of "smithi" is pronounced as "eye," not "ee." In fact, the "ee" sound is actually how one would pronounce "ae," which indicates a female person. Below is a link that details all of these rules:
http://capewest.ca/pron.html
In light of this, you may notice that most species are named after men. In the old days, science was male-dominated. Fortunately, that has changed significantly. In science, we strive for gender equality. So hopefully, more female scientists will be honored, and we'll see more "ae" names for newly discovered species in the future!
I often see a lot of variation in the way scientific names are written and pronounced in this hobby. As a person who comes from a science and museum background, I am hoping to clarify the proper usage of scientific names for anyone who is interested. There are very specific rules on this that I will talk about here
First of all, a scientific name is the combination of a genus (plural "genera") name and a species name, and are the tail end of a long list of categories and subcategories. Please note that the word "species" is both singular and plural form. "Specie" is not proper. But not to worry. The way modern phylogenetics is going, they will probably all be referred to as clades and lineages in the future.... Stay tuned!
Proper format: So, believe it or not, there is actually a proper format to write and type scientific names. The genus always begins with a capital letter, and the species always begins with a lowercase letter. Additionally, scientific names are also always typewritten in italics. If they are handwritten, they must be underlined. If you are referring to a species who's genus is already known to the reader (either through prior knowledge, or you already stated the full genus earlier in the manuscript), then you can simply use a capital letter followed by a period, and the species name written in full. So, "Brachypelma smithi" becomes "B. smithi."
If you are referring to a single unknown species of a known genus, you note the species with "sp" followed by a period. So you would write it as "Brachypelma sp." This is actually different if you are referring to multiple unknown species within a single known genus. In the case of multiple species, you note the species as "spp" followed by a period. So, referring to multiple species of Brachypelma would look like "Brachypelma spp." Now, in the case of an unknown species, you should NEVER abbreviate the genus name. I see this all the time with Euathlus, where people write it as "E. sp." Never ever do that! That is nails-on-a-chalkboard bad in science, because it is simply too broad.
Finally, I'm sure most people realize that many tarantula species are named after people. B. smithi is a great example of that. It was obviously named after a man by the name of Smith. How do I know it was a man? Because it ends with an "i." Proper naming conventions for species names actually identifies the gender of the person being honored. Named after a male, it ends in "i." Named after a female person, it ends in "ae." Now, pronunciation of these names is where people get confused. Most people know that the latin pronunciation of "i" typically takes the "ee" sound, or it is soft as in the word "bit." However, a vowel that is the last letter of the word is actually pronounced with the hard sound. Therefore, the "i" at the end of "smithi" is pronounced as "eye," not "ee." In fact, the "ee" sound is actually how one would pronounce "ae," which indicates a female person. Below is a link that details all of these rules:
http://capewest.ca/pron.html
In light of this, you may notice that most species are named after men. In the old days, science was male-dominated. Fortunately, that has changed significantly. In science, we strive for gender equality. So hopefully, more female scientists will be honored, and we'll see more "ae" names for newly discovered species in the future!
