And for those who want to find the full code of Zoological nomenclature, it is online available nowadays here: http://www.iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp
Kim van der Linde L. Brian Patrick wrote: > To answer this question, I thought that the most logical person to ask > would be a taxonomist. So I forwarded Dr. Inouye's question to Dr. > Charles D. Dondale, Honorary (= Emeritus) Curator of the Arachnid > Section for the Canadian National Collection of Insects and Arachnids. > Here is his answer: > > Answer: Taxonomists operate under a set of Rules of Zoological > Nomenclature. In this little book is found the rule that generic and > species names are to be written in Latin, or in words that are > latinized. Many following rules specify the endings for nouns, > adjectives, etc. Higher categories are not latinized, but have certain > endings such as -idae for family names. Most taxonomists I know keep a > copy of the rules at hand. > > > >> Why do we italicize only genus and species names when presenting >> taxonomic information? >> >> One web site I looked at claims that "By the way, the italics are >> used only because it is proper, in writing, to italicize words that >> are in any language other than English." Aren't any other parts of >> the taxonomic hierarchy in Latin? >> >> > -- http://www.kimvdlinde.com
