Question

The name of genus begins with a _____ and the name of species begins with_____ letter.
A) Capital letter, small letter
B) Small letter, capital letter
C) Capital letter, italics letter
D) Small letter, italics letter

Answer 1

Hint: Genus and species belong to the binomial nomenclature system of classification that is used to classify both living and fossil organisms.

Complete answer:
The binomial system of naming came into existence because giving common names to different organisms created confusion as different countries had different names for the same organisms. This led to the development of scientific names for all organisms that would be the same world wide. The scientific name of any organism comprises genus and species. The word Genus in Greek stands for race. It comes below family in the taxonomic hierarchy and is of importance because many organisms cannot be classified to the species level. A species is defined as the largest group of organisms that are able to interbreed among themselves to produce offspring. Organisms which have similar sets of physical and morphological characteristics are said to belong to the same species. Species come below genus in the taxonomic hierarchy. A genus can have many species but the species name is very specific and cannot be used for different types of organisms. The name of the genus begins with capital letters whereas the name of species begins with small letters and both of them are written in italics.

Hence the correct answer is option (A) Capital letter, small letter.

Note:The development of scientific names has proven to be helpful in naming different organisms as it avoids any confusion and groups different organisms based on their specific characteristics.