Question

What is binomial nomenclature? Explain it with suitable Examples.

Answer 1

Carolus Linnaeus gave this system as a part of the taxonomy. He was the first to use this system in his published work ‘ Species Plantarum ’ and ‘ System Naturae ’. The system is now being regulated by ICN and ICZN.

Complete answer:
Binomial Nomenclature comes from the Latin term ‘bi ’- meaning two or binary; and ‘ nomialis ’ means pertaining to a name. So, it is a naming or nomenclature system of species containing two terms. The first letter consists of Genus and the second term consists of the specific epithet that belongs to the particular Genus.
There are certain rules that need to be followed for scientific naming according to the binomial nomenclature system:
Homo sapiens
-The first term will represent the genus and second term specific epithet. As shown in the above example Homo is the genus and sapiens is the specific epithet.
-They are scientific names and are usually derived from Latin, so Italicised when printed and underlined when handwritten.
-The genus name will start from the capital letter and that of species will be small.
Other examples include Rana tigrina (Indian BullFrog), Panthera leo (Lion), Azadirachta indica (Neem), and many others.

Note:
-Binomial nomenclature was invented due to its ease and remove the confusion arising from polynomial names or any local names.
-ICZN (International Code of Zoological Nomenclature) governs the rules for the naming of the animal whereas ICN(International Code of Nomenclature) is for Algae, Fungi & Plants and a separate governing body ICNB for bacteria.