Question

In a scientific name, the name of the author is published in 

A. Italics

B. Bold (antics)

C. Abbreviated form

D. Capital letters

Answer 1

Hint: “Binomial nomenclature is the biological system of naming the organisms in which the name is composed of two terms, the first term is the 'generic name' that indicates the genus and the second term is the 'specific epithet' that indicates the species of the organism.” Such a name is called a scientific name or a binomial name.

Complete Answer:

- The genus to which an organism belongs is emphasised by the generic name or the initial part of the name. The second part, or the descriptive name, describes the precise species within the genus that the organism falls under.

- Furthermore, in binomial nomenclature, there are certain rules to be followed, such as the generic name is always capitalised, while the real name is not. Also, it is worth italicising the whole term.

-The Binomial Nomenclature system was introduced by a Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus in 1753. He is regarded as the founder of modern taxonomy.

- The conventions and rules regarding the identification and nomenclature of living organisms are governed by-

- International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) –  It deals with assigning the biological nomenclature for plants.

- International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) – It deals with assigning the biological nomenclature of animals.

The naming follows certain conventions:

- Each scientific name has two parts:

Generic name- specifies the genus name.

Specific epithet- specifies the species name.

- The scientific names of organisms are usually Latin. Hence, they are written in italics.

- Since the scientific names of the organisms have a Latin origin, so when the names are handwritten, they are underlined or italicized if typed.

- The name of the genus should always start with a capital letter and the name of the species should start with a small letter.

- The scientific name of the tiger can be written as Panthera tigris. ‘Panthera’ represents the genus and ‘tigris’ represents the species or specific epithet.

- The scientific name of humans can be written as Homo sapiens. ‘Homo’ represents the genus and ‘<i>sapiens</i>’ represents the species name.

- Name of the author appears after the specific epithet, i.e., at the end of the biological name and is written in an abbreviated form, e.g., Mangifera indica Linn. It indicates that this species was first described by Linnaeus

- The importance of the binomial nomenclature system stems mainly from its economy, its widespread use, and the uniqueness and stability of the names. 

The correct answer is option (C): abbreviated form.

Note: The first languages used by the first taxonomists, such as the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, were Latin and Greek. He is considered to be the founder of taxonomy. To prevent misunderstandings created by using the common name of species, the scientific name is used to name an organism.