Help:Name section

Name

The name section is used only for names regulated by the relevant nomenclatural code (for zoology, this means species-group, genus-group and family-group names only). It should at least contain the name of the taxon. For taxa equal to genus level or lower, these names must be italicized. This is a scientific convention. The name of the taxon is followed by the sanctioning author, and the year when the name was approved. For older publications, this is the same as the year of publication.

 *Zoology: Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus, 1758
 *Botany: Clematis viticella L. (1753)

Note that the author is linked to author pages, for which Wikispecies has a whole section of articles. Consult Help:Author Names on how to deal with author names.

Sometimes there will be more than one author name given to a certain taxon. In that case use a comma separated list and an & for the last author. Wrap individual names into link brackets and not the whole list of authors. If there are more than 4 authors it is suggested to use the latin abbreviation "et al." (et alii), which is latin for "and others." In the reference section, you can add the full list of authors, when you provide the original source.

 Bacillus novalis Jeroen Heyrman et al., 2004

Parentheses around an author name and year are used only to indicate that the name is a subsequent combination, rather than the original combination used by the describing authority. In these cases, both combinations carry the name of the describing authority, but the original combination is always written without parentheses. Botanical names often include the name of the revising author (with no parentheses) after a new combination, but this practice is not generally used in zoology.

 *Zoology: Macracantha arcuata (Fabricius, 1793)
 *Botany: Clematis alpina (L.) Mill. (1768)

In this first case, Macracantha arcuata is the valid name, while the original name given by Fabricius is listed in the synonymy. The second case Clematis alpina was originally published under another name by innaeus and later recombined by Miller.

Type locality

Some sources provide information about holotypes. Holotypes are specimens of species on which the sanctioning author based his descriptions. Most of the time this is the first time such an organism was found. The type locality describes the place and environment where the holotype was found. Give as much detail as your sources provide.

Type locality: Los Pambiles (00°32'N, 78°38'W, 1200 m elevation), Río Piedras, Cordillera de Toisán, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador.

The term type locality can only be found on species level or lower.

Type material

Holotypes (and other type material) are sometimes stored in museums, and thus the public is able to see what the specimen actually looks like. When such a specimen is stored, the specimen is given a 'tag', which contains a museum number, and an abbreviation of the museum itself. This allows specialists to do further research on already described species, and to check the description of the sanctioning author. All Holotypes are listed on the main Holotype page. The link should be directed to Holotype but masked by the caption of Museum abbreviations. (Click edit on this section to see how the example is done.)

Holotype: EPN 851241.

The Holotype can only be found on species rank or lower (for higher group, give type species or type genus instead). Use the appropriate word if the type is not a holotype (e.g. "Lectotype:", "Neotype:" etc.)

Synonyms

Taxonomy is a flexible scientific branch. As common knowledge about organisms progresses, taxonomical history is rewritten, and this leads to new names for certain organisms. These older names can still be found in older reference works, and thus have historical value, as much as taxonomical value. Because visitors might look for the older scientific names, it is vital that the synonyms are presented. Add the synonyms section as a level 3 subsection of the name section, and provide the synonyms bulleted.

Example:

===Synonyms===
* ''Motacilla indica'' [[Gmelin]], 1789

If the Motacilla indica page exists, change it to a redirect to the right page:

#REDIRECT [[Dendronanthus indicus]]

Full example

A full name section would then be formatted as:

==Name==
''Glomus przelewicense'' [[Błaszk.]], 1988
 
Host-Substratum/Locality: From soil under ''[[Thuja occidentalis]]'': Poland
 
Holotype: [[Holotype|DPP]] 578
 
===Synonyms===
* ''Glomus przelewicensis'' [[Błaszk.]], 1988

And when saved or previewed, this would appear as:

Name

Glomus przelewicense Błaszk., 1988

Host-Substratum/Locality: From soil under Thuja occidentalis: Poland

Holotype: DPP 578

Synonyms

• Glomus przelewicensis Błaszk., 1988

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