Question

Point out the correct method of showing the scientific name of coconut palm derived by binomial nomenclature.
a. Cocos nucifera
b. Cocos Nucifera
c. cocos Nucifera
d. cocos nucifera

Answer 1

Hint: Binomial nomenclature or binary nomenclature is a scientific naming system of living organisms to identify a living being all over the world by a single name. This system was introduced after the discussion of a group of scientists of the world, to give a unique name to each and every organism.

Complete answer:
Binomial or binary nomenclature naming systems were introduced by Carl Linnaeus. As we know that every living organism has multiple names according to the region language where they are found, so this kind of naming system was introduced for the global identification of the living organisms. Thus, to reduce the lots of problems in identification of living beings this system was introduced to get rid of this confusion, a standard protocol came up.

According to this system each and every living organism (including all animals and plants) has one unique scientific name which would be used globally to identify an organism. This naming system is using Latin language and written in italics, and each scientific name has two parts: generic name and specific epithet.

Rules of binomial nomenclature
• All the scientific names of organisms are usually Latin, but they are written in italics form.
• The first part of name means generic name represents the genus and the second word or specific epithet identifies the species.
• When the scientific names are handwritten; they should be underlined or italicized and of types so they should specify its Latin origin.
• Genus part always starts with a capital letter while the species name always starts with a small letter.
So, if we are talking about the coconut palm, its scientific name is Cocos nucifera, so per the rules of naming system it should be written as above.

Hence, the correct answer is option (A), because this follows all the rules that we have already discussed. And the rest of options do not follow the pattern of the naming system.

Note: All over the biologist set two international codes which follow all the protocols of the naming system. They are ICBN and ICZN. ICBN – International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, which deals with the biological nomenclature for plants. ICZN – International Code of Zoological Nomenclature deals with the biological nomenclature of animals.