Lesson 8 ·Class 9 · Five Kingdom Classification · Respond
Naming Organisms Scientifically
The rules of binomial nomenclature.
Linnaeus's rules are strict, and examiners test them precisely. Judge each case.
Handled 0/4
Situation 1 of 4
🥭 A student writes the scientific name of the mango as: mangifera Indica. What is wrong with it?
Free play — read each situation and choose what you would do; each choice explains itself. Switch to when you're ready to test yourself.
Genus capital, species small; italics in print, underlined separately by hand; author name after, not underlined.
What this lesson covers
Challenges to clear
- Judge all four cases correctly.
- Get the ''mangifera Indica'' case right — both halves are written wrongly.
The task
Linnaeus's rules are strict, and examiners test them precisely. Judge each case.
What this lesson covers
- A student writes the scientific name of the mango as: mangifera Indica. What is wrong with it? Best choice: The genus must start with a capital and the species with a small letter: Mangifera indica — Genus capitalised, species in lower case — always, without exception.
- In a printed textbook you see: Homo sapiens. In a handwritten answer, how should you write it? Best choice: Underline each word separately: Homo sapiens — Printed names are italicised; handwritten names are underlined, with each word underlined separately.
- Why is a scientific name preferred to a common name like 'cat' or 'billi'? Best choice: Because one organism has many common names in different languages, but only one scientific name worldwide — It removes ambiguity. A biologist anywhere knows exactly which organism is meant.
- A name is written as Panthera tigris (Linnaeus). What does the word in brackets indicate? Best choice: The name of the scientist who first described the species — The authority is added after the binomial, and it is not italicised or underlined.
Hint
Genus capital, species small; italics in print, underlined separately by hand; author name after, not underlined.