Glossary of scientific naming


This is a list of terms and symbols used in scientific names for organisms, and in describing the names. For proper parts of the names themselves, see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. Many of the abbreviations are used with or without a stop.

Naming standards and taxonomic organizations and their codes and taxonomies

The main ranks are kingdom, phylum or division, class, order, family, genus and species. The ranks of section and series are also used in botany for groups within genera, while section is used in zoology for a division of an order. Further levels in the hierarchy can be made by the addition of prefixes such as sub-, super-, infra-, and so on.
Divisions such as "morph", "form", "variety", "strain", "breed", "cultivar", hybrid and "landrace" are used to describe various sub-specific groups in different fields.
It is possible for a clade to be unranked, for example Psoroptidia and the SAR supergroup. Sometimes a rank is described as clade where the traditional hierarchy cannot accommodate it.

Latin descriptions of names or taxa

In zoology the English descriptions, such as "conserved name", for example, are acceptable and generally used. These descriptions can be classified between accepted names and unaccepted combinations for different reasons, with some cases in between regarding the use.

Common Latin abbreviations

  • cf.: confer; literally 'compare', indicates approximate placement
  • f.: forma; 'form'
  • nothovar.: nothovarietas; 'bastard variety'; a hybrid variety
  • nob.: nobis: 'by us'; indicates the writers are/writer is the authority of a scientific name
  • p.p.: pro parte; 'for part'
  • pro syn.: pro synonymo; 'as synonym'
  • sensu auct.: sensu auctorum; 'in the sense of the author'; generally referring to an invalid usage
  • s.l.: sensu lato; 'in the broad/loose sense'
  • sp. : species
  • sp. nov. : species nova : 'new species'
  • s.s.: sensu stricto; 'in the strict/narrow/precise sense'
  • ssp. : subspecies
  • subf.: subforma; 'subform'
  • subsp. : subspecies
  • subvar.: subvarietas; 'subvariety'
  • var.: varietas; 'variety'

    Latin abbreviations relating to novelty

These abbreviations indicate taxonomic novelty—newly identified or newly classified taxa.
  • comb. nov.: combinatio nova: 'new combination' – used when a species is moved to a different genus
  • gen. et sp. nov.: genus et species nova: a new genus and a new species described simultaneously
  • gen. et comb. nov.: genus et combinatio nova: a new genus and a new combination, often when a species is transferred into a newly erected genus
  • gen., sp. et comb. nov.: genus, species et combinatio nova: indicates that a genus is newly described, a species is newly described, and an existing name is reassigned
  • gen. nov. : genus novum : 'new genus'
  • gen. nov. et 2 spp. nov.: informal shorthand meaning a new genus and two new species; not standard Latin, but occasionally seen in summaries or abstracts
  • nom. nov.: nomen novum: 'new name' – used to replace a preoccupied or otherwise invalid name
  • sp. nov. : species nova : 'new species'
  • subsp. nov.: subspecies nova: 'new subspecies'

    English abbreviations

  • bot. - botany
  • zoo. - zoology

    Symbols

  • × : cross; indicates a hybrid
  • † : extinct
  • + : graft or chimera; indicates a graft chimera
  • - : invalid name
  • = : heterotypic synonym
  • ≡ : homotypic synonym