5 replies to this topic

[LTSAL]

Hi there,
                  Im kind of confused, as far as i understand only genus and species name is italic, do we also italic family name or class name.. example Comamonadacea (family) and also Rubrobacteridae (class)?


thanks hope can shed some light to this confusion...

[bob1]

No, only genus and species need to be italicised.

[LTSAL]

Thanks   , but some how my co supervisor was mentioning tht if its a family name it has to italic?

[bob1]

You got me thinking... I was taught, by a botanist who has named several species, that only species and genus names are italicised.  However, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and presumably the equivalent for zoological nomenclature state:

International Code of Botanical Nomenclature said:

As in the previous edition, scientific names under the jurisdiction of the Code, irrespective of rank, are consistently printed in italic type. The Code sets no binding standard in this respect, as typography is a matter of editorial style and tradition not of nomenclature. Nevertheless, editors and authors, in the interest of international uniformity, may wish to consider adhering to the practice exemplified by the Code, which has been well received in general and is followed in a number of botanical and mycological journals. To set off scientific plant names even better, the abandonment in the Code of italics for technical terms and other words in Latin, traditional but inconsistent in early editions, has been maintained.

So there is no definitive answer, it is just convention, and the official documents use italics for all levels of taxa.

[LTSAL]

Hi there
              Actually reading through some journal especially American authors (at least the one that i read) they seem to italic even the phylum and class names. Another confusion that arises Proteobacteria is widely agreed as phylum but alpha- proteobacteria has been called sub phylum , class, sub class,  which is right which to be used?

[hobglobin]

LTSAL, on May 18 2009, 10:41 AM, said:

Hi there
              Actually reading through some journal especially American authors (at least the one that i read) they seem to italic even the phylum and class names. Another confusion that arises Proteobacteria is widely agreed as phylum but alpha- proteobacteria has been called sub phylum , class, sub class,  which is right which to be used?

Though I'm not a microbiologist, the classification of groups changes with time and there are different, often competing views and interpretation on the classification of otu's. It depends which methods and data are used and finally it's more or less a subjective result. You can decide for one "school", but I'd suggest to do this throughout your works and not change this by chance or how it fits to your work. If you're a beginner you should perhaps use the more common interpretations and not an exotic outsider-view.