 | The following is a draft working towards a proposal for adoption as a Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal must not be taken to represent consensus, but is still in development and under discussion, and has not yet reached the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as policy, guideline, nor yet even as a proposal. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Capitalize scientific names above the rank of species, and italicize them from the rank of genus downward. Common (vernacular) names of species and other groupings are lower case except where they contain a proper name. Names of standardized domesticated varieties/breeds may be capitalized, but not informal landraces or types. Interpolations into scientific names are not italicized or capitalized, including connecting terms (e.g. "subsp." and "var.") and symbols (× and +), nor are the modifiers that are appended to some scientific names, such as "var." or "complex" (though the names these terms refer to are sometimes capitalized). Do not apply any sub-field's peculiar stylistic conventions outside of articles in that category if they conflict with the general rules. Scientific names can be complicated, especially for cultivated plants. For complex cases, refer to relevant specialist academic sources, while for vernacular naming, follow generalist sources on English-language usage (especially, do not capitalize as a form of emphasis). |
This guideline describes Wikipedia's stylistic conventions relating to animals (fauna), plants (flora), and other organisms (such as protists). Instructions with regard to animals usually also apply to protozoa, and those with regard to plants usually also apply to fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria. If in doubt about the applicability of anything given (or not given) in this guideline, consult encyclopedic works on the topic or scholarly literature.[1] If still in doubt, use the style that seems most correct by general rules rather than attempt to apply a questionable interpretation of narrow ones.
The instructions below closely follow the conventions expounded in the relevant academic literature. They do so to the letter when this is practical, but explicitly abandon this goal when it causes problems, such as between two such conventions that can apply in the same article or, more importantly, between such a convention and Wikipedia's mission as a freely available encyclopedia. Like all of Wikipedia:Manual of Style, this is a set of internal house style guidelines about how to consistently write biological prose in Wikipedia, which is not an academic specialist journal, a field guide, or a biological nomenclature code, and does not try to emulate every stylistic preference of such publications.
Due to the complexity of the material, this is by necessity one of the most complex and technical of the Manual of Style's pages,[a] and it is intended principally for academics and researchers. Non-specialists should feel free to copy the usage in reliable sources verbatim, and let others with more professional experience with taxonomy make any needed adjustments, e.g., because the naming conventions may have shifted since the source was written.
"[T]ypography is a matter of editorial style and tradition not of nomenclature."
– "Preface", The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN), 2011
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