Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna): Difference between revisions

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This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention.

Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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This guideline describes the conventions for the naming of articles on fauna, that is, animals.

Its advice also applies to protists, when appropriate, though instructions provided by WP:Naming conventions (flora) are sometimes more applicable, especially when the article uses the scientific name.

Use the most common name when possible

The article title should usually consist of the common (vernacular) name that is most common in English, following WP:Article titles#Common names:

Cheetah, Eastern newt, Giraffe, Koala, Yak. Exceptions are detailed below.

Use the singular form, including for groups or types of animals, following WP:Naming conventions (plurals): Beetle not Beetles.

If the article is about an animal belonging to a group where Wikipedia editors have agreed on a non-controversial standard for choosing among two or more common names, follow that standard.

For ornithology articles, Wikipedia uses the bird species common names according to the standard published by the International Ornithological Congress at the World Bird Names site which is periodically updated. Widespread species have multiple common names according to the country, but the IOC specifies a single standard name in English. For example, the article Southern Boobook is about a species known in various parts of the world by local, non-English common names like ruru, mopoke and morepork, and has regional-authority common names such as Tasmanian Spotted Owl. Create redirects from such alternative names, and from the binomial, Ninox novaeseelandiae, but place the main entry under the IOC common name – in this case, Southern Boobook. (See #Capitalisation and italicisation below for upper/lower case rules). However, this choice has led into numerous debates since its implementation.

Do not use common names when it is not clear to what the name refers. The name sardine is used for many different species of small, oily fishes; the appropriate things to do are to write an article describing the attributes the species have in common under that name, and create separate articles for each genus. However, when there is a clear core meaning for the common name, with other meanings by analogy, then it is okay to use the common name for the "true" group:

Many elongated fishes are known as "eels", but "true eels" are in the order Anguilliformes, so it's appropriate to place them at the article name "eel", with the others listed at eel (disambiguation).

When what is the most common name in English, or the veracity of that most common name, is so disputed in reliable sources that it cannot be neutrally ascertained, prefer the common name most used (orthography aside) by international zoological nomenclature authorities over regional ones. When there is no common name or no consensus can be reached on the most common name, or if it isn't clear what taxon the common name refers to (as in the sardine example above), use the scientific name:

Eulimella torquata was first described in 2011, and has no common name.
Drosophila melanogaster has no common name other than "fruit fly", which it shares with other species.
Fish in Sciaenidae are in some cases known as "drums", but drum is used for the musical instrument.

Monotypic taxa

If there is a choice of scientific names, generally use the lowest-ranked taxon which the article covers (i.e., species vs. genus), but for monotypic genera (where the genus has only one known species), use the genus name for the article title:

Xenoturbella (not Xenoturbellidae or Xenoturbellida); Nodocephalosaurus (not Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis).

Redirects

Make redirects from alternative common names:

Red-spotted newt → Eastern newt

Make redirects from scientific names:

Notophthalmus viridescens redirects to Eastern newt
Coleoptera redirects to Beetle
Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis redirects to Nodocephalosaurus

There may be several scientific names that need to be redirected:

Both Myrmecobius fasciatus and Myrmecobius redirects to Numbat (since there is only one species in the genus)
Both Xenoturbellida and Xenoturbellidae redirects to Xenoturbella (since there is only one described genus in the phylum)
- Article name to match article content and redirects are made to it, either from higher taxa or subtopics.

Make redirects from alternative capitalisations (many guidebooks and specialist literature in various zoological fields tend to capitalise, so we must account for both usages):

Eastern Newt redirects to Eastern newt

Make redirects from English forms of scientific names:

Xenoturbellid redirects to Xenoturbella
Nodocephalosaur redirects to Nodocephalosaurus

Capitalisation and italicisation

Capitalisation of article titles follows general Manual of Style guidance on the use of capital letters.

Common (vernacular) names

Articles whose titles are the common (vernacular) names of animals are normally titled in sentence case—for example, Przewalski's horse, Black bear. Where a name contains a proper name, that word is also capitalised—for example, Small Indian civet. Common names are never italicised.

The de facto naming convention for the common names of birds (following the International Ornithologists' Union) uses capitalisation on species pages and ornithology related articles, and similar conventions are followed, though not strictly, in the vernacular names of dragonflies, moths and butterflies in articles on Odonata and Lepidoptera, respectively. Do not apply such capitalisation outside these categories.

In a capitalised hyphenated name, the word after the hyphen is normally not capitalised, unless a proper name. See WP:WikiProject Birds for exceptions, which can be complicated.

When creating a new article (or moving an existing one), make a redirect to it from the alternative capitalisation. For example, if you name the article Bald Eagle, create a redirect to it from Bald eagle or vice versa (many field guides capitalise, and most other sorts of writing do not, so we have to account for both styles). Creating the redirect is not optional. There are some rare instances where lower case and capitalised versions have different meanings. Suitable links or disambiguation should then be used.

The common name of a group of species, or an individual creature of indeterminate species, is not capitalised beyond the first word in article titles (except where a proper name occurs): Bottlenose dolphin, New World monkey, Rove beetle, Slime mold.

Scientific names

The first part of a binomial species name, the genus, is capitalized. The second part, the species, is never capitalised (even when derived from a proper name): Ninox novaeseelandiae versus Ninox Novaeseelandiae. The same applies to the third part of a trinomial name: Canis lupus arctos.

Because scientific names are always italicised, per WP:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Italic face, when the article title is a genus or lower-ranked taxonomic name (e.g. species or subspecies), the page title should also be italicised.

There are three ways to accomplish this:

{{Italic title}} will render the page title in italic, except any word in parentheses, e.g.:

Ninox

Morelia (genus).

{{DISPLAYTITLE}} can be used for titles that require manual formatting, e.g.

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ninox'' cf. ''novaeseelandiae''}}

result:

Ninox cf. novaeseelandiae

Using one of the display templates of the automatic taxobox system, such as {{automatic taxobox}} or {{speciesbox}}, in most cases will automatically italicise the title if it matches the taxon name and the taxon is genus-level or lower.

Article text

This naming conventions guideline does not address prose usage.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 If the article is about an animal belonging to a group where [[WP:LOCALCONSENSUS|Wikipedia editors have agreed on a non-controversial standard]] for choosing among two or more common names, follow that standard.
-* For [[ornithology]] articles, Wikipedia uses the bird [[species]] and [[subspecies]] common names published by the [[International Ornithological Congress]] at the [http://www.worldbirdnames.org/ ''World Bird Names''] database. Many species have multiple common names, but only one IOC name in English. For example, the article [[Southern Boobook]] is about a species known in various parts of the world by local, non-English common names like ''ruru'', ''mopoke'' and ''morepork'', and has regional-authority common names such as Tasmanian Spotted Owl. Create [[WP:Redirect|redirects]] from such alternative names, and from the [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial]], ''Ninox novaeseelandiae'', but place the main entry under the IOC common name – in this case, {{xt|Southern Boobook}}. ''(See [[#Capitalisation and italicisation]] below for upper/lower case rules).'' However, this choice has led into numerous debates since its implementation.
+* For [[ornithology]] articles, Wikipedia uses the bird [[species]] common names according to the standard published by the [[International Ornithological Congress]] at the [http://www.worldbirdnames.org/ ''World Bird Names''] site which is periodically updated. Widespread species have multiple common names according to the country, but the IOC specifies a single standard name in English. For example, the article [[Southern Boobook]] is about a species known in various parts of the world by local, non-English common names like ''ruru'', ''mopoke'' and ''morepork'', and has regional-authority common names such as Tasmanian Spotted Owl. Create [[WP:Redirect|redirects]] from such alternative names, and from the [[Binomial nomenclature|binomial]], ''Ninox novaeseelandiae'', but place the main entry under the IOC common name – in this case, {{xt|Southern Boobook}}. ''(See [[#Capitalisation and italicisation]] below for upper/lower case rules).'' However, this choice has led into numerous debates since its implementation.
 Do not use common names when it is not clear to what the name refers. The name [[sardine]] is used for many different species of small, oily fishes; the appropriate things to do are to write an article describing the attributes the species have in common under that name, and create separate articles for each [[genus]].
@@ Line 58: / Line 58: @@
 Articles whose titles are the common (vernacular) names of animals are normally titled in [[sentence case]]&mdash;for example, {{xt|Przewalski's horse}}, {{xt|Black bear}}. Where a name contains a proper name, that word is also capitalised&mdash;for example, {{xt|Small Indian civet}}. Common names are never italicised.
-Some wikiprojects have arrived at a [[WP:LOCALCONSENSUS|local consensus]] to always capitalise the common names of bird species (and subspecies) in [[ornithology]] articles, and to permit but not require upper-casing of species of dragonflies, and of moths and butterflies in articles on [[Odonata]] and [[Lepidoptera]], respectively. Do not apply such capitalisation outside these categories.
+The ''de facto'' naming convention for the common names of birds (following the [http://www.worldbirdnames.org/ International Ornithologists' Union]) uses capitalisation on species pages and [[ornithology]] related articles, and similar conventions are followed, though not strictly, in the vernacular names of dragonflies, moths and butterflies in articles on [[Odonata]] and [[Lepidoptera]], respectively. Do not apply such capitalisation outside these categories.
-In a capitalised hyphenated name, the word after the hyphen is normally not capitalised, unless a proper name. See [[WP:WikiProject Birds]] for exceptions, which can be complicated.
+In a capitalised hyphenated name, the word after the hyphen is normally not capitalised, unless a proper name. See [[WP:WikiProject Birds#Naming|WP:WikiProject Birds]] for exceptions, which can be complicated.
 When creating a new article (or moving an existing one), make a [[Wikipedia:Redirect|redirect]] to it from the alternative capitalisation. For example, if you name the article [[Bald Eagle]], create a redirect to it from [[Bald eagle]] or vice versa (many field guides capitalise, and most other sorts of writing do not, so we have to account for both styles). Creating the redirect is {{em|not}} optional. There are some rare instances where lower case and capitalised versions have different meanings. Suitable links or disambiguation should then be used.