Question

The names of which two taxa are used in Binomial Nomenclature?

Answer 1

Hint: The system of binomial nomenclature was introduced by Carl Linnaeus. This was done because multiple local names make it extremely difficult to identify an organism globally and keep a track of the number of species which creates a lot of confusion. As a solution, a standard protocol came up. According to which each and every organism would have one scientific name which would be used by everyone to identify an organism and the process of standardized naming is called Binomial Nomenclature.

Complete answer:
 Biologists from all over the world follow a uniform set of principles for naming organisms. There are two international codes that are agreed upon by all the biologists over the entire world for the naming protocol. They are;
- International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) deals with the biological nomenclature for plants.
- International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) deals with the biological nomenclature of animals.

Each scientific name has two parts which are generic name and species name and the rest of the binomial nomenclature has some rules for writing the scientific names of organisms include the following:
i) All the scientific names of organisms are usually Latin and they must be written in italics.
ii) There exist two parts of a name. The first-word code for the genus and the second word identifies the species.
iii) When the names are handwritten, they must be underlined or italicized if typed. It is done to specify its Latin origin.
iv) The genus name starts with a capital letter and the species name starts with a small letter.

The two taxa used in binomial nomenclature are Genus and species.

Note: Some of the basic shortcomings of binomial nomenclature are:
- If two or more names are in use, the correct name will be the one used first and the others end up being synonyms as validity is the senior synonym and this is in accordance with the law of priority. The naming and classification of organisms are not stabilised. This must be emphasized.
- The names used prior to those included in the Systema Naturae by Linnaeus are not recognized, which is a drawback.