What ’ s in a name?

What names we give the flora and fauna. Names are critical for scientific discourse and general conversation alike. They can be weird and wonderful, informative, confusing, hilarious even, and sometimes baffling. While common, or vernacular, names vary wildly, science, of course, has a relatively standardised method of naming living things. The common format, which is often colloquially known as the Latin name, is to have the species in a genus, a family group, and then to follow that genus name with the species name. For example, in the UK, we might talk of the Snowdrop, or the Common Snowdrop. This delicate plant with white flowers that emerge in the spring is known to scientists as Galanthus nivalis. The genus is Galanthus and includes all the different species of snowdrops. The species name nivalis pins us to the Common Snowdrop.  The scientific name, or binomial, tells scientists and others the exact species regardless of their native tongue. While the Common Snowdrop is not a particularly confusing example, in the birding world we might discuss Lapwing in the vernacular. It’s more formally known as the Northern Lapwing to distinguish it from other lapwing species. However, in English, this species has many other names, such as Peewit, Green Plover, Pyewipe, and Tuit; there will be dozens and dozens of names elsewhere, of course. The Lapwing’s scientific name is Vanellus vanellus. There should be no confusion when given the scientific name. It is worth notin...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Biology Science Source Type: blogs