GetWiki

• Economy. Compared to the polynomial system which it replaced, a binomial name is shorter and easier to remember. It corresponds to the widespread system of family name plus given name(s) used to name people in many cultures.
• Widespread use. The binomial system of nomenclature is governed by international codes and is used by biologists worldwide.BOOK, Van Dyke, Fred, 2008, Contemporary Issues of the Species Concept, Conservation biology: foundations, concepts, applications, 86, Springer, 978-1-4020-6890-4,books.google.com/books?id=Evh1UD3ZYWcC&pg=PA86, 20 June 2011, A few binomials have also entered common speech, such as Homo sapiens, E. coli, Boa constrictor, Tyrannosaurus rex, and Aloe vera.
• Uniqueness. Provided that taxonomists agree as to the limits of a species, it can have only one name that is correct under the appropriate nomenclature code, generally the earliest published if two or more names are accidentally assigned to a species.BOOK, Peter J., Russell, Stephen L., Wolfe, Paul E., Hertz, Cecie, Starr, The Linnaean System of Taxonomy, 2, Cengage Learning, Species Concepts and Speciation, 2007, 493, 978-0-495-01033-3,books.google.com/books?id=7F9UlGYGr0sC&pg=PA493, However, establishing that two names actually refer to the same species and then determining which has priority can be difficult, particularly if the species was named by biologists from different countries. Therefore, a species may have more than one regularly used name; all but one of these names are “synonyms”.JOURNAL, 2007, General Principles of Taxonomy, Competition Science Vision, 10, 114, 764–767,books.google.com/books?id=0-cDAAAAMBAJ, 20 June 2011, Darpan, Pratiyogita, Furthermore, within zoology or botany, each species name applies to only one species. If a name is used more than once, it is called a homonym.

• Stability. Although stability is far from absolute, the procedures associated with establishing binomial names, such as the principle of priority, tend to favor stability.BOOK, Joan C., Stevenson, Dictionary of concepts in physical anthropology, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991, 53, 978-0-313-24756-9,books.google.com/books?id=MvuHGhrr2ocC&pg=PA53, For example, when species are transferred between genera (as not uncommonly happens as a result of new knowledge), the second part of the binomial is kept the same (unless it becomes a homonym). Thus, there is disagreement among botanists as to whether the genera Chionodoxa and Scilla are sufficiently different for them to be kept separate. Those who keep them separate give the plant commonly grown in gardens in Europe the name Chionodoxa siehei; those who do not give it the name Scilla siehei.WEB, Dashwood, Melanie, Mathew, Brian, 2005, Hyacinthaceae â€“ little blue bulbs (RHS Plant Trials and Awards, Bulletin Number 11), RHS.org.uk, Royal Horticultural Society,www.rhs.org.uk/getattachment/04d1dd16-01be-4c31-9510-8a081dfa23b0/Hyacinthaceae---Little-Blue-Bulbs-Bulletin.aspx, 19 February 2011,www.rhs.org.uk/getattachment/04d1dd16-01be-4c31-9510-8a081dfa23b0/Hyacinthaceae---Little-Blue-Bulbs-Bulletin.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20110806123722www.rhs.org.uk/getattachment/04d1dd16-01be-4c31-9510-8a081dfa23b0/Hyacinthaceae---Little-Blue-Bulbs-Bulletin.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20110806123722www.rhs.org.uk/getattachment/04d1dd16-01be-4c31-9510-8a081dfa23b0/Hyacinthaceae---Little-Blue-Bulbs-Bulletin.aspx, 6 August 2011, The siehei element is constant. Similarly, if what were previously thought to be two distinct species are demoted to a lower rank, such as subspecies, the second part of the binomial name is retained as a trinomen (the third part of the new name). Thus, the Tenerife robin may be treated as a different species from the European robin, in which case its name is Erithacus superbus, or as only a subspecies, in which case its name is Erithacus rubecula superbus.JOURNAL, Bergmann, H. H., Schottler, B., 2001, Tenerife robin Erithacus (rubecula) superbus â€“ a species of its own?,issuu.com/dutchbirding/docs/db_23_3_2001/26, Issuu, Dutch Birding, 23, 140–146, 26 January 2018, 7 May 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190507175340/https://issuu.com/dutchbirding/docs/db_23_3_2001/26, live, The superbus element of the name is constant, as are its authorship and year of publication.

Problems

Relationship to classification and taxonomy

Derivation of binomial names

• Latin, from any period, whether classical, medieval or modern. Thus, both parts of the binomial name Homo sapiens are Latin words, meaning “wise” (sapiens) “human/man” (Homo).
• Classical Greek. The genus Rhododendron was named by Linnaeus from the Greek word , itself derived from rhodon, “rose”, and dendron, “tree”.{{OEtymD|rhododendron}}{{LSJ|r(odo/dendron|ῥοδόδενδρον}}, {{LSJ|r(o/don|ῥόδον}}, {{LSJ|de/ndreon|δένδρον|ref}}. Greek words are often converted to a Latinized form. Thus coca (the plant from which cocaine is obtained) has the name Erythroxylum coca. Erythroxylum is derived from the Greek words erythros, red, and xylon, wood.{{Harvnb|Hyam|Pankhurst|1995|p=182}} The Greek neuter ending - (-on) is often converted to the Latin neuter ending -um.{{NoteTag|The ending “-on” may derive from the neuter Greek ending -, as in Rhodoxylon floridum, or the masculine Greek ending -, as in Rhodochiton atrosanguineus.}}
• Other languages. The second part of the name Erythroxylum coca is derived from kuka, the name of the plant in Aymara and Quechua.{{Ref Bertonio}}{{Ref Laime}} Since many dinosaur fossils were found in Mongolia, their names often use Mongolian words, e.g. Tarchia from tarkhi, meaning “brain”, or Saichania meaning “beautiful one”.
• Names of people (often naturalists or biologists). The name Magnolia campbellii commemorates two people: Pierre Magnol, a French botanist, and Archibald Campbell, a doctor in British India.{{Harvnb|Hyam|Pankhurst|1995|p=303}}
• Names of places. The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, is widespread in the United States.JOURNAL, James E., Childs, Christopher D., Paddock, The ascendancy of Amblyomma americanum as a vector of pathogens affecting humans in the United States, Annual Review of Entomology, 48, 1, 307–337, 2003, 12414740, 10.1146/annurev.ento.48.091801.112728,zenodo.org/record/1234969, 13 December 2019, 7 August 2020,web.archive.org/web/20200807030223/https://zenodo.org/record/1234969, live,
• Other sources. Some binomial names have been constructed from taxonomic anagrams or other re-orderings of existing names. Thus the name of the genus Muilla is derived by reversing the name Allium.{{Harvnb|Hyam|Pankhurst|1995|p=329}} Names may also be derived from jokes or puns. For example, Ratcliffe described a number of species of rhinoceros beetle, including Cyclocephala nodanotherwon.WEB, Isaak, Mark, Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature: Puns,www.curioustaxonomy.net/puns/puns.html, 17 June 2011, CuriousTaxonomy.net,www.curioustaxonomy.net/puns/puns.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20110519103654www.curioustaxonomy.net/puns/puns.html,">web.archive.org/web/20110519103654www.curioustaxonomy.net/puns/puns.html, 19 May 2011,

• The second part of a binomial may be an adjective. The adjective must agree with the genus name in gender. Latin has three genders, masculine, feminine and neuter, shown by varying endings to nouns and adjectives. The house sparrow has the binomial name Passer domesticus. Here domesticus (“domestic“) simply means “associated with the house”. The sacred bamboo is Nandina domestica{{Harvnb|Hyam|Pankhurst|1995|p=334}} rather than Nandina domesticus, since Nandina is feminine whereas Passer is masculine. The tropical fruit langsat is a product of the plant Lansium parasiticum, since Lansium is neuter. Some common endings for Latin adjectives in the three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) are -us, -a, -um (as in the previous example of domesticus); -is, -is, -e (e.g., tristis, meaning “sad“); and -or -or -us (e.g., minor, meaning “smaller“). For further information, see (Latin declensionAdjectives|Latin declension: Adjectives).
• The second part of a binomial may be a noun in the nominative case. An example is the binomial name of the lion, which is Panthera leo. Grammatically the noun is said to be in apposition to the genus name and the two nouns do not have to agree in gender; in this case, Panthera is feminine and leo is masculine.