Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Organisms
 | This page in a nutshell: Capitalize scientific names above the rank of species, and italicize them from the rank of genus downward. Common names of species and other groupings are lower case except where they contain a proper name. Interpolations into scientific names are not italicized or capitalized, including connecting terms (e.g. "subsp." and "var.") and symbols (× and +), nor are the modifiers that are appended to some scientific names, such as "var." or "complex" (though the names these terms refer to are sometimes capitalized). Do not apply any sub-field's peculiar stylistic conventions outside of articles in that category if they conflict with the general rules. Scientific names can be complicated, especially for cultivated plants. For complex cases, refer to relevant specialist academic sources, while for vernacular naming, follow generalist sources on English-language usage (especially, do not capitalize as a form of emphasis). |
This guideline describes Wikipedia's stylistic conventions relating to animals (fauna), plants (flora) and other organisms (such as protists). Instructions with regard to animals usually also apply to protozoa, and those with regard to plants usually also apply to fungi, algae and cyanobacteria. If in doubt about the applicability of anything given (or not given) in this guideline, consult encyclopedic works on the topic or scholarly literature.[1] If still in doubt, use the style that seems most correct by general rules rather than attempt to apply a questionable interpretation of narrow ones.
The instructions below closely follow the conventions expounded in the relevant academic literature. They do so to the letter when this is practical, but explicitly abandon this goal when it causes problems, such as between two such conventions that can apply in the same article or, more importantly, between such a convention and Wikipedia's mission as a freely available encyclopedia. Like all of Wikipedia:Manual of Style, this is a set of internal house style guidelines about how to consistently write biological prose in Wikipedia, which is not an academic specialist journal, a field guide, or a biological nomenclature code, and does not try to emulate every stylistic preference of such publications.
Due to the complexity of the material, this is by necessity one of the most complex and technical of the Manual of Style's subpages, and it is intended principally for academics and researchers. Non-specialists should feel free to copy the usage in reliable sources verbatim, and let others with more professional experience with taxonomy make any needed adjustments, e.g. because the naming conventions may have shifted since the source was written.
"[T]ypography is a matter of editorial style and tradition not of nomenclature."
Scientific names[edit]
Scientific names in the taxonomy of organisms are formatted on Wikipedia according to standardized taxonomic nomenclature, inasmuch as the different taxonomic codes do not conflict in problematic ways. These are set forth in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) for animals and animal-like protists; the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), which also covers cyanobacteria; the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB), for all other kinds of bacteria and other prokaryotes; and the code of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV code) for viruses.
Only add scientific names in contexts (e.g. biological) where they are likely to be helpful, not distracting to readers. Avoid pedantic insertions, as in flavored with herbs like thyme (Thymus vulgaris) and sage (Salvia_officinalis) or bitten by her cat (Felis silvestris catus). Use common sense; genetically identified herb or cat species might actually be relevant, e.g. in an archaeological context.
The names of taxa at taxonomic ranks above genus (or the rarely used supergenus) – family, order, etc. – are always capitalized and are not italicized for animals, plants or bacteria (i.e., everything but viruses): bats belong to the order Chiroptera; rats and mice are members of the family Muridae and the order Rodentia.
For viruses, the recent formal convention is to italicize and capitalize the order and everything below it, including the first letter of the species name (but not of subsequent words in the species name). This italicization convention should only be used for virus infoboxes and otherwise within virology articles; it is not common outside this context even in academic journals, and should not be used in other categories of articles, as its double inconsistency will be confusing to readers and to non-specialist editors. The Manual of Style advises us, across all style issues, to be consistent within an article. When editing an article that mixes viral and other topics, use the italicization and capitalization conventions of the non-viral topic, as this increases site-wide consistency and is less jarring for readers (e.g., in an article on cattle health, use the ICZN not ICTV style). Examples: In a virology article, use within Herpesviridae, genus Cytomegalovirus belongs to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily, but otherwise use within Herpesviridae, genus Cytomegalovirus belongs to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily. Virus species names are often abbreviated, e.g. HIV, HHV-5, etc.; these short forms are not italicized and do not use dots (full points) between the acronym letters.
Neither capitalize nor italicize plain-English forms of the name of a taxon, which is usually derived from the scientific name: members of the order Chiroptera are chiropterans; members of the family Muridae are murids, members of the order Rodentia are rodents, and members of the genus Cytomegalovirus are cytomegaloviruses.
When the common name and part of the scientific name of an organism coincide, do not italicize, and do not capitalize (unless a proper name occurs), except in the context of taxonomy. For example a common cause of jaundice is hepatitis A virus (vs. ...Hepatitis A virus). Another overlap example is The caracal (Caracal caracal) is also known as the desert lynx; but use This cat has been previously classified variously with the genera Lynx and Felis, but is now recognized separately as genus Caracal.
The words for taxonomic ranks are never capitalized. Use the animal kingdom and genus Rosa, not the animal Kingdom or Genus Rosa. These taxonomic rank designations are also never italicized: Equus subgenus Hippotigris, or Saxifraga aizoon var. aizoon. The horticultural designation of Cultivar group is written in a scientific name as the capitalized symbol "Group" (or "Gp") when it follows a group name: Mishmiense Group. In running text, use the descriptive term "cultivar group" for clarity, not ICNCP's styled symbols, e.g. some members of the cultivar group were reclassified, since the construction "some members of the group were reclassified is both too ambiguous for our audience and prone to get overcorrected to use "Group".
Avoid Latin versions of words for taxonomic ranks that differ from the English equivalents, as in the animal regnum or ordo Strigiformes; they will not be understood by many readers who are neither biologists nor Latin students. In botany, there can be up to five taxonomic ranks below the rank of species, all conventionally named in Latin (but not italicized): "subspecies" (which is spelled the same in English), "varietas", "subvarietas", "forma", and "subforma". In practice, subspecific botanical ranks are conventionally abbreviated "subsp.", "var.", "subvar.", "f.", and "subf.", which is Wikipedia's preference as well. These symbols (which do have a trailing ".") should never be replaced in a name by the English equivalents, such as "variety", but in running prose [[WP:Manual of Style#Technical language|English is preferred: The gardens feature many well-labeled varieties and forms of flowering plants.
It is conventional to abbreviate taxonomic ranks when used as connecting terms in a scientific name or classification (and the difference between the two is important in botany[2]), e.g. Saxifraga aizoon var. aizoon subvar. brevifolia or Equus quagga ssp. The first occurrence in a page should be wikilinked to the article on that taxonomic rank: Equus quagga ssp. Be aware that standard abbreviations may differ by field, e.g. "subspecies" is "ssp." (when used at all) in zoology, but more commonly "subsp." in bacteriology and botany. They are required by convention in botany, but not zoology. Some of them are rarely used, e.g. "cv." for "cultivar", and should thus be avoided altogether here except in quotations. These abbreviation symbols should not be used in general prose, as in researchers have identified 22 spp. in the genus, only in scientific names and classifications.
Epithets[edit]
The entire binomial or trinomial scientific name (epithet) whether given in full or abbreviated, is always italicized (except for interpolations, such as connecting terms, and infrasubspecfics, as detailed below): Liriodendron tulipifera, and N. v. piaropicola. You can use the non-breaking space character code in these constructions, to prevent awkward line-wrapping: ''N. v. piaropicola''
In particular:
- A genus (or genus group) is always italicized and capitalized, even when not paired with a species or subspecies name, and whether given in full or abbreviated: Allosaurus, Falco, Anas, and the "E." in E. coli. Supergenus and subgenus, when applicable, are treated the same way. A genus section is only capitalized.
- Any lower (infrageneric) taxa are italicized, i.e. species and (when applicable) subspecies and other formal infraspecific names. They are never capitalized, even where based on a proper name (except for viruses). Examples: the tulip tree is Liriodendron chinense; all modern humans are Homo sapiens; the peninsula newt is Notophthalmus viridescens piaropicola. Except in viruses, a species (or subspecies) name is always preceded by the genus name, or a capitalized abbreviation of it when the meaning of the abbreviation is clear in context. Viruses are so narrowly named at the species level (e.g. Human herpesvirus-5) that including the genus would usually be superfluous, and they are capitalized like a genus.
- An interpolated name is italicized and placed in parentheses (round brackets); some examples are after a genus name to indicate a subgenus, after a genus group to denote an aggregate of species, or after a species name to mean an aggregate of subspecies, . None of these are capitalized except subgenus. Note that it is generally not conventional to include interpolated names, which are usually better discussed in prose and laid out in infoboxes, as they are not actually part of the scientific name, but are descriptive of taxonomic position. Interpolated names are easily confused with other terminology; e.g., there is little conceptual difference between a subenus and a genus section, but the latter is never italicized nor interpolated in parentheses. If in doubt, follow the usage in reliable sources.
- Interpolations such as "cf.", "×", "+", and the parentheses (round brackets) around interpolated names, are not italicized: Ninox cf. novaeseelandiae; the chaussie is a hybrid cat (Felis catus × F. chaus); Potentilla (Sibbaldiopsis) tridentata; the orange (Citrus × sinensis) is a hybrid with its own independent name. In trinomials (three-part or ternary combinations), the interpolation "subsp." is conventionally only used for plants and bacteria: Eschscholzia californica subsp. mexicana and Bacillus cereus subsp. mycoides, versus Equus quagga borensis.
- Names of infrasubspecific terms and taxa (classifications below subspecies) as well as those of hybrids and the like at higher levels, vary in their handling:
- Modifiers of a genus or species name are not italicized; these words are also not capitalized. Examples include zoological usages like "complex", "species group", "radiation", and "variety", botanical cases like a "section" of a genus, and bacteriological usages like "phagovar", "chemovar", "serovar", and "biovar". Any names that accompany them are capitalized (including letters in serial numbers) but not italicized. Examples: Drosophila tumiditarsus species group; Thymus section Micantes; Staphyloccocus aureus phagovar 42D. This should not be confused with such words when they are coincidentally used as species names, in which case they are, of course, italicized as such (simplex being a common case, as in Acacia simplex).
- Recognized, naturally occurring botanical varieties are preceded by "var." and italicized and lower-cased like a subspecies: Escobaria vivipara var. arizonica. Subvarieties are labeled "subvar.", and handled the same way. It is not always necessary to use the longest form of a botanical name; Saxifraga aizoon var. aizoon subvar. brevifolia can be shortened to Saxifraga aizoon subvar. brevifolia if the variety is already clear in the context.
- A domestic plant cultivar group name is capitalized along with the symbol "Group" (or abbreviated form "Gp", with no "."), not italicized and not put in quotation marks or parentheses: Rhododendron boothii Mishmiense Group; you can use {{sic}} to prevent overcorrections of what will look like a typographic error to many reader-editors:
{{sic|Mishmiense Group|hide=y|reason=Both of these are properly capitalized per the ICNCP.}}Where both appear, the group epithet precedes the cultivar epithet: Brassica oleracea Italica Group 'Calabrese'. (See cultivars, below, for handling of individual cultivar names. See "Formal breeds, cultivars, and varieties" section, below, for handling of cultivars and cultivar groups in running text.) - Nothospecies (naturally occurring interspecies or intergenus hybrid) names are italicized, not capitalized lower than genus (or, if used, subgenus), and are given with the interpolation "×" (the multiplication or "by" symbol, available in the "Insert" editing tools below the editing box; it is not the alphabetic character "x", the lower-case "X"). For cases of long-standing hybrids with their own independent, published names, do not use the hard-to-read unspaced style as in Citrus ×sinensis; instead, use the thin-space character, encoded as
 , between the × and the hybrid name:[3]Citrus × sinensis. If the hybrid does not have its own published name, the parent species or subspecies are given, with normal spaces on both sides of the × symbol: Cattleya warscewiczii × C. aurea. It is advisable to replace regular spaces with the non-breaking space character code in these constructions, to prevent awkward line-wrapping:''Citrus'' × ''sinensis',''Cattleya warscewiczii'' × ''C. aurea''. Some authorities give nothogenera (hybrids between genera) their own portmanteau genus names, which are simply preceded by a thin-spaced "×": Crosses between the genera Amaryllis and Crinum are classified as × Amarcrinum; the nothospecies × Amarcrinum memoria-corsii is an Amaryllis belladonna × Crinum moorei cross. Avoid beginning sentences with this non-alphabetic character, as in × Amarcrinum is a cross between the genera Amaryllis and Crinum. Where both a hybrid name and a cultivar name (see next entry) appear, the former precedes the latter: Amaryllis × parkeri 'Hathor'. - Horticultural and agricultural formal cultivar names are capitalized in title case, are never italicized, and are given after the scientific name, in single quotation marks, without brackets of any kind. This applies to all domesticated plants with formal cultivar names, and the capitalization is performed even where they do not contain proper names): Persea americana 'Hass', and Malus domestica 'Golden Delicious', each cultivars within a species; Malus domestica × M. sylvestris 'Granny Smith', an interspecific-hybrid cultivar within a genus, which can be given more succinctly as Malus 'Granny Smith' – specifying the parent species is not always important in the context and can be distracting. While various gardening and horticulture books boldface the cultivar name to make it stand out, do not do this in Wikipedia, as doing so is not actually part of the scientific nomenclature of cultivated plants, and Wikipedia is not a plant guidebook. (See ICN's formal declaration that such boldfacing is not part of the convention.)[4] The single quotation marks are not used in running text, only in the context of taxonomy: cultivars such as Black Mission, Croisic, and Ventura produce reliable crops. (See "Formal breeds, cultivars, and varieties" section, below, for handling of cultivars and cultivar groups in running text.)
- A grex (horticultural, artificial hybrid) name is capitalized, but the symbol "grex" (or abbreviated form "gx", without ".") is not, and neither are italicized or specially punctuated: Cattlya Hardyana grex is a C. warscewiczii × C. dowiana hybrid. On Wikipedia, do not omit "grex" (or "gx"); while it is common shorthand to do so in horticulturist catalogs and the like, the clipped usage is ambiguous and may be confusing. When both grex and cultivar apply, use that order: × Rhynchosophrocattleya Marie Lemon Stick grex Francis Suzuki Group; if a specific cultivar name is also present, it goes last, and the cultivar group may be put in parentheses (round brackets) to break up the string for easier reading: Bletilla Penway Prelude gx (Penway Dancer Gp) 'Ballerina'.
- When mentioning a trade designation (a.k.a. tradename or selling name), capitalize it in title case and surround it with the {{tdes}} template', with no quotation marks, brackets or other markup:
{{tdes|Goldfingers}}gives Template:Tdes. The template puts the trade name in a different font than the other text (this being the only ICNCP requirement; ICNCP's own examples show small-capitals formatting, but this is not required). Trade designations go at the end of the scientific name, or immediately before the cultivar epithet, if any:''Choisya ternata'' {{tdes|Goldfingers}} 'Limo'produces Choisya ternata Template:Tdes 'Limo'.[5] Avoid mentioning a trade designation if it is not important in the context, for the same neutrality reasons we do not normally mention brand names of any other products without an encyclopedic reason to do so. - A graft chimera name (usually a portmanteau of the names of the parent genera or species) is italicized and preceded by the interpolated prefix "+", with a thin-space character (coded as
 ) between it and the following name:[3] The graft chimera of Crataegus and Mespilus is + Crataegomespilus. Avoid beginning sentences with this non-alphabetic character, as in + Crataegomespilus is a graft chimera of Crataegus and Mespilus. - The vernacular names of landraces and general "types" or "kinds" of animals and plants are not italicized, not specially punctuated, not capitalized except where they contain proper names, and are not part of formal zoological nomenclature. See #Common (vernacular) names, below, for details.
Note about italics
- Do not italicize connecting terms interpolated into a taxon, such as the label of an infrageneric name; thus: Equus subgenus Hippotigris.
- Do not italicize terms that precede or follow a taxon name in general prose, as they are not part of the name; thus: the genus Equus, the various Equus species.
- Do not italicize author names (or abbreviations thereof) following scientific names, as they are not part of the name; thus: Subgenus Potentilla Syme and subgenus Hypargyrium (Fourr.) Juz. have been combined under subgenus Potentilla.
- Do not independently italicize name parts, as in
''Ambystoma'' ''tigrinum''(unless, of course, separated by non-italic interpolations); this unnecessarily complicates the wikicode of the page. - Italicize names in series individually, e.g.
''Rosa gymnocarpa'', ''R. roxburghii'', ''R. persica''not''Rosa gymnocarpa, R. roxburghii, R. persica''. - Use plain typographic italicization wikimarkup,
''R. persica''or<i>R. persica</i>, not semantic markup for emphasis,{{em|R. persica}}or<em>R. persica</em>.
Abbreviating
The bi- or tri-nominal name is conventionally abbreviated if the full version has occurred previously in the same material (and the material does not discuss multiple taxa at the same level that would share the same abbreviation): Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii) is easily distinguishable from the red-fronted gazelle (E. rufifrons), but not the zoo's E. thomsonii specimen died of an E. coli infection. The final element of the name is never abbreviated: the arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos) is a subspecies of gray wolf (C. lupus) or subspecies of Canis lupus include C. l. arctos and C. l. dingo, but not Canis lupus arctos is a subspecies of C. l.
Linking
Generally, do not wikilink different parts of epithets, e.g. to separate genus and species articles, as in ''[[Liriodendron]] [[Liriodendron chinense|chinense]]''; link to the most specific article or article section. It is permissible but not required to used piped links to more general articles from more specific names, for example ''[[Persea americana|Persea americana guatemalensis]]'', and this method is preferred over red-linking if the more specific name (e.g., a subspecies) is mentioned at the more general article. Another tactic, if an article on (in this example) P. a. guatemalensis seems like one that would be likely to eventually exist, is to create it as a redirect that includes the "with possibilities" redirect categorization template, using the following wikitext as the content of the redirect page: #REDIRECT [[Persea americana]] . Because redlinks directly encourage the creation of new articles, it is preferable to redlink than to not link at all or to link misleadingly or confusingly, e.g. to an article that does not mention the term being linked from. If the more specific name is not in fact mentioned in the more general target article, it is then better to link only part of the name: {{R with possibilities}}''[[Persea americana]] guatemalensis''.
Other considerations
Scientific names, like other facts, must be verifiable with reliable sources. In the absence of such a source for a specific assumed usage, use normal descriptive text, e.g. a domestic cat (Felis catus), of the Van cat type, or the Brussels sprout variant of the domesticated cabbage plant (Brassica oleracea), and do not assert specific taxonomic terms such as "subspecies", "variety" or "complex" without reliable sources. The terms "type", "variant", "sort" and "kind" are usually safe; "landrace", "population" and "breed" also have specific, though non-taxonomical, meanings and their use may require source citations. The word "type" also has the special meaning of "type specimen", but this is rarely an ambiguity issue. Especially do not make up an assumed scientific name of any kind, like Felis catus van, Felis catus var. Van, Brassica oleracea var. brussels, or Brassica oleracea 'Brussels Sprout'.
Do not append information about taxonomic authors to scientific names except where especially important. This author information (as in Template:Xtn) is almost never needed outside of biology articles, and need not be repeated within one. Cases where this information is useful include at first occurrence in the biological article about that taxon (in which case this is usually done in the infobox), or non-repetitively in coverage of taxonomic disputes and developments. In such cases, link to notable taxonomists' articles here. Avoid abbreviating any authors who are not notable and linked (''Felis catus'' [[Linnaeus|L.]], 1758 is permissible), since otherwise non-specialist readers will not understand who the referents are, as in Hypargyrium (Fourr.) Juz.. Give a full surname with at least one initial if there is no author article to link to: Hypargyrium (P. J. Fourreau) S. V. Juzepczuk; linking to redlinks, as in ''Hypargyrium'' ([[Pierre Jules Fourreau|Fourr.]]) [[Sergei Vasilievich Juzepczuk|Juz.]] in such a case is of course not helpful since it still begs the question. An exception to this general rule is with botanical names; there are standardized abbreviations for important botanical authors which should be used – see List of botanists by author abbreviation – but the first occurrence is linked to the article on the author or (if there isn't one) to the appropriate alphabetical section of that list. Note: In taxonomy, using parentheses or not around an author's name has specific meaning (beyond the scope of this guideline), which varies from field to field, and is not a typographic whim. Author information may include other terms; these are italicized if Latin, as is the case with the "ex" in Acanthocereus (Engelm. ex A. Berger) Britton & Rose.
Redirect from alternative names and spellings. Alternative (e.g. obsolete or disputed) scientific names should be redirected to the actual article, and the {{R from alternative scientific name}} template added to the redirect so that it is categorized properly. Whether an alterantive name is mentioned in the lead, an infobox, or at all is a content decision left to the discretion of editors at the article in question. It may be helpful to readers to also create redirects for incorrectly capitalized scientific names, e.g. those in which a proper name appears in the species epithet, since readers unfamiliar with the conventions may look for the capitalized version, and such capitalization is actually found in some (predominantly non-English) sources; in such a case, use {{R from alternative capitalization}}.
Never misleadingly wikilink a scientific name, e.g. to its naturalist or geographical namesake, as in ''Liriodendron [[China|chinense]]''; the article on the taxon can discuss the namesake.
Derived uses in non-biological contexts are not italicized: The largest carnivore in family Tyrannosauridae was T. rex itself, but Unicorn is an album by the band T. Rex.
Common (vernacular) names
Where there is a generally accepted common name, it is best to give both the common and scientific name at first occurrence when the scientific name is relevant: common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) or Thymus vulgaris (common thyme). Exact formatting varies by context, but parentheses are the most common usage.
If two common names are very prevalent, especially in different varieties of English, it is often helpful to give both, with or without the scientific name): the guinea pig or cavy (Cavia porcellus) or Cavia porcellus (cavies a.k.a. guinea pigs).
The type of organism is included at the end of the name when it is descriptive, geographical, possessive, an organism named after another organism, potentially ambiguous, or when it is simply conventional to do so: marbled salamander, Dahurian thyme, Przewalski's horse, eel cod, African forest buffalo Template:Magenta. When an organism is usually referred to without the type (most often when it has a non-English name borrowed into English, or has long had an independent name and was later reclassified), do not add the type; e.g., use argali and pennyroyal, not argali sheep or pennyroyal mint. Avoid usages not usually found in sources, such as seahorse fish. Avoid any usage that may be misleading, unless it is overwhelmingly preferred in sources, if there is a clearer alternative; e.g. use pronghorn and redbrush lippia, not pronghorn antelope or Mexican oregano (pronghorns are not really antelopes, and lippias are not even in the same family as oregano). In contexts where the meaning is already clear, it is unnecessary to keep repeating the type: Some commonly cultivated mints are the peppermint, spearmint, bergamot, Corsican, garden and gray species. If usage is heavily mixed in sources, usage on Wikipedia may vary, e.g. both bighorn and bighorn sheep are acceptable, and the former may even be preferable if the context already makes it clear that an ovid species is meant. If in doubt, prefer clarity over brevity. For the article title about the organism itself, prefer the longer version, e.g. Badlands bighorn sheep, even if the shorter variant might not seem too ambiguous; if the name is clearly adjectival in form before the type, always include the type: Turkmen wild goat not Turkmen wild. This keeps the articles in a category consistent; readers should not have to guess at article titles. It also avoids breaking readers concentration; any usage (in titles or in text) that begs the question what? ("Turkish wild what?") is not helpful to readers.
Capitalization
Lower-case initial letters are used for each part of common (vernacular) names of species, genera, families and all other taxonomic levels (bacteria, zebra, bottlenose dolphin, mountain maple, gray wolf), except where they contain a proper name (Przewalski's horse, Amur tiger, Roosevelt elk).
Some editors arrived at a "local consensus" to propose, based on current and historic usage among those who study certain taxa, that the common names of species should be capitalized (generally or just in those categories). Various wikiprojects entirely or mostly capitalized these names in certain categories (e.g. birds, dragonflies, even cetaceans and primates). The Manual of Style deprecates this practice, and most of Wikipedia already consistently uses lower-case vernacular names regardless of taxonomical category, based on prevailing use in peer-reviewed scientific and academic journals, general-audience mainstream sources, and the recommendations of most English writing authorities, despite the preference for capitalization in some specialist publications.[6]
As of April 2014[update], articles on some groupings of organisms may still be in the process of being converted to lower case where title case had previously been imposed by some wikiprojects or individuals (e.g. bovids, rodents, and shrews, among others, were mostly capitalized until 2013). In some cases, e.g. with regard to birds, discussions are still ongoing about making this conversion.
Do not add such capitalization to any other category. Sticking to lower case increases site-wide consistency and is less jarring for readers, as well as less likely to lead to editing conflicts. If encountering an entire category of articles capitalized in this manner, it is probably better to seek community-wide consensus through a multi-article WP:Requested moves process, rather than risk editwarring by simply moving the articles. If usage in a category is mixed, normalizing the stragglers to lower case is unlikely to raise any controversy. If an article covers two or more taxonomic groupings and is not principally an ornithological article, it should already be at lower case. In the interim, please note that in a capitalized hyphenated name, the word after the hyphen is normally not capitalized, if not a proper name, per basic English grammar rules (Red-winged Blackbird, not Red-Winged Blackbird). There can be (according to some standards) rare exceptions in bird naming which can be complicated (e.g., if the hyphen separates two bird type names, as in "Sunda Cuckoo-shrike", whether or not the species in question is a member of the grouping after the hyphen may determine whether that part of the name is conventionally capitalized by ornithologists or even remains hyphenated); WP:BIRDS#Naming has more information on what standards can apply and how in ornithological publications; whether to apply those here to capitalized articles is a matter for consensus at particular articles, since off-Wikipedia standards actually conflict, often on a regional basis.
Create redirects from differently capitalized variants of the name to the actual article, and use {{R from alternative capitalization}} on the redirect pages.
Compounding and hyphenation
Follow the practice of the majority of reliable sources, including both general encyclopedic works and more specialist publications on the type of organism in question: sand shark, trout-perch, triggerfish. If sources conflict, prefer separate words, hyphenation, and full compounding, in decreasing order. If hyphenating, see Wikipedia's hyphenation rules. Note that some groups of organisms conventionally are compounded more often than others, even when the constructions are otherwise similar: pufferfish, howler monkey.
Formal breeds, cultivars, and varieties
The names of formal breeds of animals, and formal cultivars and varieties of domesticated plants (as recognized by fancier/breeder/grower registry organizations) are capitalized. Examples: Manx Loaghtan sheep, Siamese cat, Napa cabbage, Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, Sanguinello orange, Calabrese broccoli}. Breed and cultivar/variety names are capitalized with near uniformity by such organizations as a matter of consistent convention, spanning pet keeping, farming and commercial animal husbandry, horticulture, and industrial agriculture. Many (though perhaps not yet a majority of) independent, general-audience publications capitalize them also, such as newspapers, mainstream magazines, other encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. The majority of breed/cultivar names already contain a proper name (usually a place name) and would be capitalized anyway, so only a relative handful would remain lower case, and thus be themselves a confusing consistency problem. It may be unreasonable to expect editors to already know which ones are and are not based on proper names. These names are also official divisions in animal and plant competitive shows put on by such organizations, and ultimately are the titles of publications, in the form of breed and cultivar standards, and registered certifications of compliance with those standards. These instructions apply only to a breed/variety for which reliable sources clearly demonstrate at least one of: a) its formal recognition as such by one or more notable breed/variety societies or other registry organizations; b) its formal conformance definition in a non-self-published herdbook/studbook; c) a well-attested history of intentional selective breeding with the aim of producing a controlled, named population with fixed traits distinguishable from other nearby populations. For looser definitions, see the section on landraces, below. As a rule of thumb, a "breed" that predates the establishment of any organization devoted to that type of organism in that part of the world, and which is not presently recognized as an extant breed/variety by such organizations, it is usually just a landrace.
The names of formal breeds of animals, and formal cultivars and varieties of domesticated plants in running text, are given in lower case except where they contain a proper name, or are themselves trademarks. Examples: Manx loaghtan sheep, Siamese cat, Napa cabbage, Labrador retriever, golden retriever, sanguinello orange, Calabrese broccoli. Some trademarked examples include: Ragdoll cat, Template:Magenta. (See cultivar epithets, above, for capitalization and quotation-marking rule for cultivar names in scientific naming.) Breed and cultivar/variety names are capitalized with near uniformity only by specialist publications and fancier/breeder/grower registry organizations, and some government agencies, for whom the style is as a matter of consistent convention in pet keeping, farming and commercial animal husbandry, horticulture, and industrial agriculture. But only a minority of independent, general-audience publications capitalize such names, and these include an enormous number of newspapers, mainstream magazines, encyclopedias, dictionaries, nonfiction works, novels, etc. The majority of breed/cultivar names already contain a proper name (usually a place name) and this part would be capitalized anyway, so care must be taken to avoid up-casing those that should not capitalized or vice-versa. If in doubt about whether a breed or cultivar name contains a proper name, consult reliable sources as to the original of the name. When these names are used as official divisions in animal and plant competitive shows put on by such organizations, or are referenced as the titles of publications in the form of breed and cultivar standards, and registered certifications of compliance with those standards, they may be capitalized. [Conforming edits would need to be made to sections below, to remove references to capitalized breeds names.]
The general kind of organism (e.g. sheep, cat, cabbage, orange) is not capitalized, added to the article title, or boldfaced in the lead, except when always an integral part of the name of the breed/variety. That exception is almost always to avoid ambiguity (e.g. Norwegian Forest Cat, because "Norwegian Forest" by itself would be interpreted as a woodland in Scandinavia, not a cat breed; American Quarter Horse, which would be mistaken for US coinage without the animal type included). The kind may be added, uncapitalized, as necessary for disambiguation (see below).
Rule of thumb: If you can reasonably refer in many contexts to the breed or variety without the type, the type is optional and is not capitalized even when added sometimes for clarity: her Siamese was a GCCF Grand Champion and they prefer Taroccos to Sanguinellos, but not his cat is a Norwegian Forest, which is confusing, nor she has a Labrador Retriever dog, which is redundant. Some constructions that are normally redundant may be needed in some contexts, most often when the breed name could easily be mistaken for a person or persons: The French pianist was traveling with a German Shepherd dog. This style is also used for disambiguation. Breeds that have become extinct, e.g. Alpine Mastiff, Norfolk Trotter, remain capitalized in titles and in article text, except for defunct natural breeds with the same name as their landrace; see below.
Colors, coat patterns and other phenotypic features (long-haired, sable, agouti) are not capitalized, except where they contain a proper name (light Siamese sable), or are an integral part of the overall name of a formal breed (British Shorthair). Template:Magenta Another exception is in the official name of a competitive division at a fancier/breeder event (first place in the Light Siamese Sable Division). The unusually compounded and/or truncated adjectives favored by some registries are not used except in the names of formal breeds as recognized by breed registries (Exotic Longhair, but domestic long-haired cat not domestic longhair), unless the usage is purely figurative and thus would not be confused with encyclopedic description, and is consistently, conventionally compounded (heavy warmblood, mulefoot pig). Hyphenation of descriptive terms is generally preferred over compounding, as readability and understandability are impaired when they are multisyllabic, as in chocolatepoint vs. the clearer chocolate-point. If sources are not consistent on compounding, Wikipedia uses the non-compounded version.
Ecotypes, landraces and natural breeds[edit]
Ecotypes (distinct populations within a genus or species, adapted to specific environments) and biological races (less clearly distinguishable populations in the same species or subspecies, separated by environment or geography) are never capitalized (except where a proper name occurs).
Landraces (reliably identifiable regional phenotypes that are not formal breeds/varieties) are never capitalized (except where a proper name occurs, which is common because the names are usually geographical): St. John's water dog, Van cat, Grenada pigeon pea. Registration of a landrace by a fanciers', breeders', horticultural, agricultural, conservation, scientific or regulatory organization, e.g. as a pseudo-breed for pedigree purposes or a population for legal protection, does not change this. As an example, the non-purebred domestic cat with short hair (nicknamed the "moggy" in some dialects) is the domestic short-haired cat, even if an organization like the CFA has designated it the "Domestic Shorthair" for their own internal registry purposes. (Such a capitalized term may be used when referring to a registry's competitive divisions, however: Her cat won "Domestic Shorthair Second Place" at TICA's 2013 cat show.) Template:Magenta
A natural breed (a landrace that has in recent times been selectively bred to conserve its most defining traits) (or traditional variety in horticulture) is capitalized like any other breed if it has a unique name. If it shares the name of the landrace from which it was derived, Wikipedia capitalizes it if and only if at least one extant fancier organization currently accepts it, at least provisionally or experimentally, as a formal breed under that name (and care must be taken in an article to distinguish between the feral and controlled populations and respective facts about them). Not all attempts at establishing a new breed are successful, and assertion that a breed once but no longer recognized still exists as such rather than having been subsumed back into its landrace would constitute original research. Furthermore, fancier and breeder publications are notoriously unreliable when it comes to distinguishing between formally recognized breeds, alleged new breeds promoted by particular breeders, and landraces, calling all of them simply "breeds" for short. The roughly corresponding term to natural breed in horticulture is the traditional variety. (This is distinct from the concept of heirloom or heritage varieties, which are selectively bred cultivars that simply predated industrial agriculture and continue to be selectively bred to retain their non-hybridized traits; they are handled the same as other cultivars.) Template:Magenta
Vague or indeterminate groupings[edit]
The collective term for a natural grouping of species, domesticated type of organism, or range of breeds or varieties, is always written in lower case (except where a proper name occurs): New World monkeys, slime mold, rove beetles, great apes, mountain dogs, a spitz-type dog breed, triticale, blood oranges, Brussels sprouts, Northern European short-tailed sheep. This also applies to organisms of indeterminate taxonomic identification: some kind of antelope.
Article titles and disambiguation[edit]
'Article titles are determined by a mixture of factors as discussed at WP:Naming conventions (fauna) and WP:Naming conventions (flora), which defer to the Manual of Style on stylistic matters, but otherwise rely upon WP:Article titles, WP:Reliable sources and other non-stylistic policies and guidelines. Style matters are independent of the title chosen for the article, and article content is independent of article titling considerations. Nothing in the Manual of Style dictates whether to prefer a particular scientific name over another, a specific vernacular name, a particular system of vernacular names, or scientific over vernacular names or vice-versa. Likewise, nothing in the WP:Article titles policy or any naming conventions guidelines (nor wikiproject essays on organism naming) should be construed as overriding the Manual of Style on stylistic matters. Reliable biology, taxonomy, agriculture and fancier sources on what an organism's name is for article titling purposes here are not reliable English-language authorities how best to style content in an encyclopedia, for which Wikipedia's Manual of Style generally relies on other style guides and the practices of mainstream, non-specialized works, such as dictionaries, other encyclopedias, and newspapers.
Create redirects from competing names to the actual article, and use {{R from alternative name}} on the redirect pages.
The preferred way to disambiguate an article on an organism, that is not titled by its scientific name, is to add the general type of organism, uncapitalized and without parentheses, when it is not the primary topic for the name by itself: Andalusian horse, Black Iberian pig. This is known as "natural disambiguation", and preferred by both WP:Article titles policy and the WP:Disambiguation guideline. As of April 2014[update], some categories of organisms in which many articles were disambiguated parenthetically (Siamese (cat), Alpine (goat)) have still not been converted to natural disambiguation. Parenthetical disambiguation can be used if the "natural" phrase would actually be awkward and uncommon: Template:Magenta}. It is a good idea to redirect to the actual article title any variations that do sometimes occur in sources (e.g. Poodle dog redirects to Poodle); use {{R from alternative name}} on such redirect pages. Avoid the urge to "pre-disambiguate" on the basis that an organism's name might conceivably be confused with something else; if there's no other article competing for the same title, there is no need to disambiguate (use Cuban Criollo not Cuban Criollo horse), but do create redirects from such alternate names, since some readers are likely to try them.
Lead section[edit]
When a common (vernacular) name is used as the article title, the boldfaced common name is followed by the italic non-boldfaced binomial or trinomial name, if applicable, in parentheses (round brackets) in the opening sentence of the lead section. Alternative names should be mentioned and reliably sourced in the text where applicable, with bold type in the lead if they are in wide use, or elsewhere in the article (with or without the bold type, per editorial discretion) if they are less used.
- Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii) is the most common gazelle of East Africa ...
- Grunters or tigerperches are fishes that form the family Terapontidae ...
- The rove beetles are a large family (Staphylinidae) of beetles ...
It is not desirable to include non-English common names unless they are also commonly used in English, e.g. regionally; if included, they should be italicized as non-English, or better yet marked up with the {{Lang}} template, which will auto-italicize as well as indicate the language.
When the article title is the scientific name, reverse the order of the scientific and common name[s] (if any of the latter are given), italicize the scientific name, and boldface both. Do not boldface a long list of common names.
- Vitis vinifera (common grape vine) is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia ...
- Brassica oleracea is the species of plant that includes many common foods as cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, savoy, and Chinese kale ...
For a monotypic taxon, also boldface in the lead any other monotypic taxa because they are also the subject of the article: The aardvark (Orycteropus afer) is the only species within the monotypic genus Orycteropus, which is monotypic within the family Orycteropodidae, which is itself monotypic within the mammal order Tubulidentata.
Individual animals[edit]
Per WP:Article titles policy at WP:Common names, use the most commonly attested name in reliable sources. If a longer or other alternative name exists, it is appropriate to mention this a notable animal's article, and it can sometimes be appropriate to do so in other contexts. Per WP:Article titles again, and WP:Disambiguation in more detail, use the shortest reasonable parenthetical disambiguating term when one is needed. Example: A notable show dog best known as Figwit's Fancy should be at an article with that title, and usually referred to in article text by this name. If the dog's best-known name differs from its official name with a pedigree registry like AKC, perhaps SK's Figtwit's Fancy of Ramsey Gyatso, it would be appropriate to also include the longer name in the dog's article, e.g. in the lead and/or infobox, as well as perhaps in a discussion of the registry and its best known grand champion show dogs. If the dog had to be distinguished from something else called Figwit's Fancy, use the article title "Figwit's Fancy (dog)". If there were two dogs commonly known by this name, disambiguate further, e.g. "Figwit's Fancy (poodle)".
Do not add the surname of the owner or keeper of an animal to the name of the animal, as in using "Lucy Temerlin" for Lucy (chimpanzee), unless the most common form of the animal's name as reported in reliable sources includes that surname, for example the Darley Arabian.
Do not put individual animal's names in quotation marks, italics or any other special markup.
We generally do not add achievement titles or their abbreviations to the names of humans (Sir Laurence Olivier; Walter Lindrum, OBE), except in the first sentence of the lead section of the article on that person (with a link to what the title means), so we obviously follow the same rule for animals, e.g. with titles like Grand Champion (GC). Mentioning such a title in other contexts would only be appropriate in unusual cases, such as in image captions when illustrating a breed article with photos of reliably sourced conformance-champion specimens.
Another WP:Common names concern, addressed in more detail at WP:Naming conventions (use English), is that we use the names of notable animals as they are best known in English. For example, Snowflake (gorilla) AKA Floquet de Neu and Copito de Nieve. However, an animal that is known exclusively by its untranslated foreign language name would not have its name translated. Examples would include horses such as Totilas, or Salinero. Where multiple names exist, non-English names that appear with non-trivial frequency in English-language publications should exist as redirects to the English article name, and be mentioned as alternative names in the lead and/or infobox of the article on the animal.
As a matter of encyclopedic tone, remember that articles on notable animals exist principally to provide information on why an animal is historically and/or culturally important; they are not biographies, strictly speaking. An animal is only notable in a human context. Care must be taken to avoid anthropomorphosis, including subtle implications of human-like thought or agency, such as motivations, goals, disappointments, decisions, etc. An example is Scarlett (cat), who is not notable for being "heroic" in instinctually rescuing her kittens from a house fire. Her actions cannot be measured by a human-level, conscious weighing of risk vs. love, coming to a self-sacrificing decision. Such a notion would be original research and unverifiable. The animal is notable because the cat's story became a widespread meme, with the press labeling her heroic, the public elevating her to a symbol of motherly love, and over 7,000 people requesting to adopt her and her kittens, a possible record for pet adoption requests.
Footnotes and further reading[edit]
- ^ Various nomenclature codes are compared in Jeffrey, C. (1989). Biological Nomenclature (3rd ed.). London, UK: Edward Arnold Books.
- ^ In botany, Saxifraga aizoon var. aizoon subvar. brevifolia is technically a classification not a taxonomic name. Wikipedia articles will typically use such a classification. Although not formally part of the name and not italicized, connecting terms are required in all infraspecific botanical classifications. (They are not required in zoological names since there is only one rank below species in zoology.) Shorter forms like Saxifraga var. aizoon or Saxifraga aizoon subvar. brevifolia are only permissible when the higher level classifications have already been given, and the shortened form clearly refers to it. For example, Saxifraga aizoon must clearly precede Saxifraga var. aizoon, with no confusion as to the fact that "var. aizoon" is the self-named variety of the species S. aizoon.
- ^ a b Reliable sources vary widely, and even between editions, on handling of spacing and the ×/+ characters. When used between two names, × is almost universally fully-spaced, while before a single name either character is often not spaced at all, because it is easier to parse as a unit. This may be problematic for searching and for other reasons on Wikipedia, so thing-spacing with
 is used. This is also recommended by some other style guides. - ^ The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) preface states of italicization of order and family: "The Code sets no binding standard in this respect, as typography is a matter of editorial style and tradition not of nomenclature." Most peer-reviewed scientific botanical publications do not italicize names above the rank of genus, and non-botanical scientific publications do not (except in virology; the ICTV adopted an italicization convention in the 1990s, which is ignored outside of that field).
- ^ Technically, and especially for long, complex names, the cultivar name and its single quotation marks can also be placed in parentheses (round brackets) after the trade designation for visual clarity, but this style is an unnecessary complication on Wikipedia.
- ^
Capitalization of the common names of species is regarded as grammatically incorrect, and an inappropriate imposition of an in-house style from very narrowly specialist journals, by many Wikipedians (including professional biologists) who have commented on the matter in various WP:RFCs and other debates (WT:MOS, WT:VPP, etc.) on the issue over the years, none of which have changed the general consensus against doing so. In 2012, an extensive discussion at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style reaffirmed a 2008 site-wide consensus at WP:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms to not capitalize common names of species. The subject had been a source of continual, heated and sometimes quite disruptive controversy on Wikipedia since 2004.
While some narrow-topic journals, e.g. most in ornithology, prefer the capitalization, most reliable academic and scientific publications, including leading biology, zoology, ecology, and general science journals – even when publishing ornithological papers – do not permit this capitalization. The same holds true for the vast majority of general-audience publications, such as newspapers, dictionaries, other encyclopedias, UK- and US-English writing and style guides, etc. (Field guides on these taxa are an exception, but field guides on all animals and plants, as well as minerals, and antiques and whathaveyou, uniformly capitalize in this way, to make the names stand out for quick visual scanning, a practice strongly deprecated here at WP:Manual of Style#Do not use capitals for emphasis and WP:Manual of Style/Capital letters); that it matches some specialist journals' preferred academic style is pure coincidence.)
Virtually all other (i.e., non-bird) articles titled after the common name have either always been at lower case or have been moved to it, with little to no disputation. If anyone feels that a consensus has been reached among some group of editors (e.g. participants in a wikiproject) to deviate from the Manual of Style on capitalization of species common names in some field, the proper process is to raise the issue at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style as a proposal for acceptance beyond the WP:LOCALCONSENSUS level. Failing to gain such a consensus and proceeding to capitalize common names anyway is very likely to result in editwarring and be interpreted as disruptive. Wikipedia is not a soapbox for advocacy of linguistic change, like the promotion of non-standard capitalization from one-field academic journals.
Conforming edits to existing guidelines[edit]
The following material would not remain a part of this guideline, but rather reflects changes to make to other, pre-existing guideline pages so they do not conflict with MOS:ORGANISMS.
Note: As of 6 February 2012[update], the relevant guidelines still do not all agree. This draft WP:Manual of Style/Organisms necessarily follows WP:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms, because WP:Manual of Style "has precedence over its subpages". WP:Manual of Style/Capitalization#Common names nevertheless directly conflicts with the main MOS page, suggesting capitalization of common names of not just birds but some kinds of insects, despite the relevant entomological projects never even coming to a conclusion to demand this, only to not oppose it, and no discussion at WT:MOS has ever concluded with a consensus to endorse the idea.
WP:Manual of Style[edit]
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When using scientific names, capitalize the genus but not the species or taxonomic rank below species if present: Berberis darwinii, Erithacus rubecula superbus. No exception is made for proper names forming part of scientific names. Higher taxa (order, family, etc.) are capitalized in Latin (Carnivora, Felidae) but not in their English equivalents (carnivorans, felids). Common (vernacular) names are given in lower case, except where proper names appear (zebras, mountain maple, gray wolf, but Przewalski's horse). Some editors prefer to capitalize the IOC-published common names of birds (Golden Eagle) in ornithological articles; do not apply this style to other categories. Use a consistent style for common names within an article. Create redirects from alternative capitalization forms of article titles. General names for groups or types of animals are not capitalized except were they contain a proper name (oak, bottlenose dolphins, rove beetle, Van cat). |
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When using scientific names, capitalize the genus but not the species or taxonomic rank below species if present: Berberis darwinii, Erithacus rubecula superbus. No exception is made for proper names forming part of scientific names. Higher taxa (order, family, etc.) are capitalized in Latin (Carnivora, Felidae) but not in their English equivalents (carnivorans, felids). Common (vernacular) names are given in lower case, except where proper names appear (bacteria, zebra, mountain maple, gray wolf, but Przewalski's horse). General names for groupings or types of animals are not capitalized except where they contain a proper name (New World monkeys, great apes, rove beetles, Van cats). |
WP:Manual of Style/Capital letters[edit]
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Template:Pseudoheading Scientific names names including genus and species (sometimes also subspecies) have an initial capital letter for the genus, but not for the [sub]species (and, per WP:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Italic face, and are always italicized): the tulip tree is Liriodendron tulipifera; all modern humans are Homo sapiens. More specifically:
Orders, families and other taxonomic ranks above genus level have an initial capital letter (and are not italicized): bats belong to the order Chiroptera; rats and mice are members of the family Muridae and the order Rodentia. However, there is generally an English form for a member of the grouping, derived from the Latin name, and is bit capitalised (nor italicized): members of the order Chiroptera are chiropters; members of the family Muridae are murids and members of the order Rodentia are rodents. For more details on article titles with taxonomic terms, including how to italicize their display, see WP:Naming conventions (fauna).
Template:Pseudoheading Lower-case initial letters are used for each part of the common (vernacular) names of species, genera, families and all other taxonomic levels, except where they contain a proper name, such as the name of a person or place (Przewalski's horse, Amur tiger, Roosevelt elk), or of course when such a name starts a sentence (Black bears eat white suckers and blueberries). For specific groupings of organisms, wikiprojects on these topics have arrived at a local consensus to propose the following specific rules of capitalization based on current and historic usage among those who study the organisms:
Do not apply such capitalization outside these categories. In a capitalized hyphenated name, the word after the hyphen is normally not capitalized, if not a proper name, per basic English grammar rules (Red-winged Blackbird, not Red-Winged Blackbird). There are rare exceptions in bird naming which can be complicated (e.g., if the hyphen separates two bird type names, as in "Sunda Cuckoo-shrike", whether or not the species in question is a member of the grouping after the hyphen may determine whether that part of the name is capitalized or remains hyphenated), and WP:BIRDS has more information on what rules apply and how. If in doubt, check with encyclopedic works on the topic or scholarly literature. Create redirects from alternative capitalization forms of article titles. Use a consistent style of capitalization in all articles, including those covering two or more taxonomic groups. Template:Pseudoheading The common name of a group of species or type of organism is always written in lower case (except where a proper name occurs):
This also applies to an individual creature of indeterminate species. |
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Scientific names have an initial capital letter for the genus, but not for lower taxonomic ranks (species, subspecies), even when derived from a proper name (and are always italicized): the tulip tree is Liriodendron tulipifera; all modern humans are Homo sapiens. Ranks above genus (orders, families, etc.) have an initial capital letter (and are not italicized): rats and mice are members of the family Muridae and the order Rodentia. The common English equivalents are not capitalised (nor italicized): members of the family Muridae are murids and members of the order Rodentia are rodents. Common (vernacular) names' use a lower-case initial letters for each part of the names at all taxonomic levels (bacteria, zebra, mountain maple, gray wolf), except where they contain a proper name, such as the name of a person or place (Przewalski's horse, Amur tiger, Roosevelt elk), or of course when such a name starts a sentence (Black bears eat white suckers and blueberries). Some editors prefer to capitalize the IOC-published common names of birds (Golden Eagle) in ornithological articles; do not apply this style to other categories. In a capitalized hyphenated name, the word after the hyphen is normally not capitalized, if not a proper name, per basic English grammar rules (Red-winged Blackbird, not Red-Winged Blackbird). There are rare exceptions in bird naming which can be complicated. If in doubt, check with encyclopedic works on the topic or scholarly literature. Use a consistent style of capitalization in all articles, including those covering two or more taxonomic groupings. Create redirects from alternative capitalization forms of article titles. Terms for groupings or types of organism are always written in lower case (except where a proper name occurs): New World monkeys, slime molds, rove beetles, great apes, mountain dogs. |
WP:Manual of Style/Lead section[edit]
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Organisms When a common (vernacular) name is used as the article title, the boldfaced common name is followed by the italic un-boldfaced scientific name in round parentheses in the opening sentence of the lead section. Alternative names should be mentioned and reliably sourced in the text where applicable, with bold type in the lead if they are in wide use, or elsewhere in the article (with or without the bold type, per editorial discretion) if they are less used. It is not necessary to include non-English common names, unless they are also commonly used in English, e.g. regionally; if included, they should be italicized as non-English.
When the article title is the scientific name, reverse the order of the scientific and common name(s) (if any of the latter are given), and boldface as well as italicize the scientific name.
Brassica oleracea is the species of plant that includes many common foods as cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, savoy, and Chinese kale ... |
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Organisms When a common (vernacular) name is used as the article title, the boldfaced common name is followed by the italic un-boldfaced scientific name in round parentheses in the opening sentence of the lead section:
Alternative names should be mentioned and reliably sourced in the text where applicable When the article title is the scientific name, reverse the order of the scientific and common name(s) (if any of the latter are given), italicize the scientific name, and boldface both.
Brassica oleracea is the species of plant that includes many common foods as cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, savoy, and Chinese kale ... |
WP:Naming conventions (fauna)#Capitalisation and italicisation[edit]
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Capitalisation of article titles follows general Manual of Style guidance on the use of capital letters. Template:Pseudoheading Articles at the common (vernacular) names of animals are normally titled in sentence case — for example, Przewalski's horse, Black bear. These are never italicised. Some wikiprojects have arrived at local consensus to always capitalise the common names of bird species (and subspecies) in ornithology articles, and to permit but not require upper-casing of species of dragonflies, and of moths and butterflies in articles on Odonata and Lepidoptera, respectively. Do not apply such capitalisation outside these categories. In a capitalised hyphenated name, the word after the hyphen is normally not capitalised, unless a proper name. See WP:WikiProject Birds for exceptions, which can be complicated. When creating a new article (or moving an existing one), make a redirect to it from the alternative capitalisation. For example, if you name the article Bald Eagle, create a redirect to it from Bald eagle or vice versa (many field guides capitalise, and most other sorts of writing do not, so we have to account for both styles). Creating the redirect is not optional. There are some rare instances where lower case and capitalised versions have different meanings. Suitable links or disambiguation should then be used. The common name of a group of species, or an individual creature of indeterminate species, is not capitalised beyond the first word in article titles (except where a proper name occurs): Bottlenose dolphin, New World monkey Rove beetle, Slime mold. Template:Pseudoheading The second part of a binomial species name is never capitalised (even when derived from a proper name): Ninox novaeseelandiae versus Ninox Novaeseelandiae. The same applies to the third part of a trinomial name: Canis lupus arctos. Because scientific names are always italicised, per WP:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Italic face, when the article title is a genus or lower-ranked taxonomic name (e.g. species or subspecies), the page title should also be italicised. There are three ways to accomplish this:
For more details on this topic, see WP:Article titles#Italics and other formatting.
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No changes are recommended other than fixing cross-references: {{more|WP:Manual of Style/Organisms}} and changing "per WP:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Italic face" to "per WP:Manual of Style/Organisms#Scientific names".
Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles[edit]
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Italic type (text like this) is generally used for the following categories of titles:
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Italic type (text like this) is generally used for the following categories of titles:
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Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Scientific names[edit]
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Template:Pseudoheading Scientific names of organisms are formatted according to normal taxonomic nomenclature.
Derived uses in non-biological contexts are not italicized: The largest carnivore in family Tyrannosauridae was T. rex itself, but Unicorn was an album by the band T. Rex. Although derived from Latin (and often Ancient Greek), scientific names are never marked up with |
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For more details on this topic, see [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Organisms#Scientific names]].
Scientific names of organisms are formatted according to formal taxonomic nomenclature.
Derived uses in non-biological contexts are not italicized: The largest carnivore in family Tyrannosauridae was T. rex itself, but Unicorn was an album by the band T. Rex. Although derived from Latin (and often Ancient Greek), scientific names are never marked up with |