Pre-submission advice:  biological nomenclature

When reporting on biological taxa it is crucial to employ the right nomenclature to avoid confusion.  Furthermore, appropriate formatting and presentation reassures the reader that due professional care has been taken. 

 

Nomenclature

It is important to consider separately the tasks of identifying & characterising biota and the tasks of naming biota or specifying their taxonomic grouping. 

  • Older resources (maybe even more than 50 years old), might still contain very useful descriptions for the purpose of identification or characterisation. 

However, after the lifeform has been identified, ...

  • authoritative up-to-date resources (as recent as possible; less than 5 years old, say) should be consulted to confirm the currently "accepted" name, and where it fits in the taxonomic hierarchy.   

 

Presentation

Just like mathematical variables, there are conventions that should be followed for writing biological nomenclature.  

  • Taxa above species level are capitalised;  taxa at species level and below are not capitalised.  
    Example:  "Reputable sources list Dolichospermum flos-aquae var. intermedium as a member of the Cyanobacteria phylum."
    • As an exception, names of cultivars are often capitalised.  
  • Binomial names (genus and species) are set italic, as are common taxa below species level (see the above example) such as variety or form/forma.  
    • Taxa above genus level are set italic by some, but not by others.  There is currently no consensus, although there appears to be a trend towards italicising the higher-level names too.  
    • Taxa below sub-species level (e.g., cultivar, forma specialis, and "pathovar" — presumably signifying a pathogenic variety) may not be set italic.  
      Examples:  "Triticum aestivum cv. Fielder";  "F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum";  and "Burkholderia gladioli pv. cocovenenans".  
      [Note:  "F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum" is the more commonly seen formatting in the literature.]  
  • Authorities are optional.  If given, they are not set italic. 
    Example:  "Dolichospermum flos-aquae (Bornet & Flahault) P. Wacklin, L. Hoffmann & J. Komárek, 2009."
  • Abbreviations for taxonomic levels are not set italic.  
    • This applies to "f." (forma), "var." (variety), and so on.  
      Example:  "Dolichospermum flos-aquae var. intermedium."
    • Note carefully the difference between "sp." (singular species) and "spp." (plural species).  
      Example:  "Five Anabaena spp. were present in our sample; one Arthrospira sp. was also found, with a high cell density."
  • Abbreviations for taxonomic status (such as "nov.", a Latin abbreviation meaning new) are not set italic.  
    • Example:  "Nanobdella aerobiophila gen. nov., sp. nov., a thermoacidophilic, obligate ectosymbiotic archaeon, and proposal of Nanobdellaceae fam. nov., Nanobdellales ord. nov. and Nanobdellia class. nov." 
  • Terms describing members of a taxonomic group (rather than the group itself) are set as ordinary text — neither capitalised nor italic.  
    • Examples:  In the preceding example "archaeon" refers to a member of the Archaea domain.  Similarly, a "cyanobacterium" is a member of the Cyanobacteria phylum;  but note that in the plural "cyanobacteria" would indicate multiple members of the Cyanobacteria phylum.