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๐ก One name for the world
A tiger is bagh , puli , tiger or tigre depending on where you are. To avoid confusion, science gives every organism one universal name.
What is binomial nomenclature?
- A universal two-part system of naming organisms, introduced by Carolus Linnaeus in the 18th century.
- The name has a genus name (first, capitalised) and a species name (second, lower case) — e.g. Panthera tigris (tiger), Mangifera indica (mango).
- The genus groups closely related species; together the genus and species form a unique name used worldwide.
| S. No. | Common name | Scientific Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tiger | Panthera tigris |
| 2. | Mango | Mangifera indica |
What are the rules for writing scientific names?
- The name has two parts — the genus name and the species name.
- The genus name begins with a capital letter and comes first; the species name follows in lower case.
- The scientific name is written in italics when printed, or underlined when handwritten (Fig. 12.18).
๐ Ready to Go Beyond
The five kingdom system could not fully explain the diversity of life. Comparing organisms at the DNA level, Carl Woese (1977) proposed the three domain system — Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya (Fig. 12.19). Organisms with similar DNA are considered to share a common ancestry, and this system showed that microscopic life is far more diverse than earlier believed.
