The ICZN and the Conventions of Taxonomy

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The ICZN and the Conventions of Taxonomy
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• ICZN International Code of Zoological
  Nomenclature.
• First established in 1901 by the fifth
  International Congress of Zoology has gone
  through 4 revisions the last two developed by the
  Commission on Zoological Nomenclature of the
  International Union of Biological Sciences
  (IUBS). The fourth edition of the ICZN was
  published in 1999

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ICZN Purpose

• Ensure a unique scientific name for each taxon
  must be in Latin and conform with Latin grammar
• Provide rules for publication of new names and
  determine if old names are acceptable
• Ensure adequate documentation and dating of names
• Ensure typification
• Allow for revisions of names and classification
  on the basis of new information or insights
• Provide a chronological starting point to names
  used
• Provide an administrative system to oversee
  interpretation and improvement of the code

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Typification

• The actual specimen used for the first published
  description of a species must be deposited in a
  recognized museum or collection as a type
  specimen referred to as the holotype (this not a
  typical specimen or an ideal specimen ). Other
  specimens collected at the same locality and time
  as the holotype may be deposited in another
  museum as paratypes.
• Type specimens must include precise data as to
  location and time of collection

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Scientific Name

• Pallifera dorsalis (Binney, 1857)
• When first used in a publication the
  entire name is usually required that includes the
  name of the person who first described the
  species and the date of the published
  description. Subsequent use of the species name
  can be abbreviated as P. dorsalis (note as a
  Latin word the name must be italicized or
  underlined). If the name of the author is in ()
  the genus into which he/she placed the species
  has been changed if no () then the full name has
  remained the same since the species was
  described. Thus when Binney first described this
  slug he put it in a different genus (in this
  case, Philomycus)
• Other naming conventions
• superfamily names usually end in oidea
  (Arionoidea)
• family names end in idea (e.g
  Philomycidae)
• subfamily names end in -inae (e.g.
  Palliferinae)
• Note requirements for published descriptions,
  location data, and typification have become more
  strict over the years so that older names and
  specimens may not conform to modern standards.

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Mollusca
Mollusca
Pallifera sp.
Megapallifera sp
Palliferinae
Philomycidae
Arionoidea
Stylommatophora
Pulmonata
Gastropoda