Quid significat nomen? (What's in a name?).
For the purposes of classification and effective communication among scientists, organisms must have unequivocal names. The binomial naming system of species was devised and popularized by Linnaeus in the 18th Century. His "Botanical Latin" is an artificial language first adopted for naming plants and is now internationally accepted as a naming system for both plants and animals. Genus and species names are based on Latin and Greek words which describe characteristics of the organism, as well as words from more modern sources, such as the name of the discoverer or place of discovery. Naming follows certain rules and all of the word endings are Latinized. The history of naming parasites is interesting and the molecular age may influence naming in the future.
Sangster
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Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Pathology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. n.sangster@vetp.usyd.edu.au
Pope
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D000818:Animals; D010271:Parasites / Q000145:classification*; D009626:Terminology as Topic