Natural History Online: 2011

The titles for many of the observations on this site consist of a common name and afterwards in brackets a Scientific Name, sometimes called a Latin Name.

To many it seems pointlessly complicated to do this (and in many circumstances it is) however if I were to talk to you about a wasp you might wonder what sort of wasp. Even if you knew I was talking about the normal English wasp, that always seems to know when a picnic is due, then you might still wonder whether I meant a Vespula vulgaris (Common Wasp) or a Vespula gemanica (German Wasp). These are equally common in the British countryside, and both fit the above description. In fact the only visible difference is in a small marking on the face:

To make things more accurate (and also to aid discussion between naturalists and scientist of different languages), a system of bi nominal naming was introduced.

a bi nominal consists of the genus and species: Genus (Vespula) Species (vulgaris)

Genus: a group of animals that all share certain traits

Species: a single type from within this group

In a bi nominal the genus is capitalized but the species is not i.e. Vespula vulgaris. Often it is also italicized, however I personally have dispensed with that tradition.

If a genus is followed by the abbreviation sp. it means any species in that genus (spp. is plural).

If a bi nominal is followed by the abbreviation cf. it means that the identification is not certain.

In a later article, the terms genus and species will be discussed more fully and it will be explained how they fit into a wider system of classifying the natural world, called Taxonomy.