- Scientific names are always italicized.
In hand-written texts, it can be underlined instead, however when using a Word processor, there is no justification for not italicizing.
Example: Bos taurus, not Bos taurus.
- The genus is always capitalized, even when occurred in the middle of the sentence.
Example: Antibiotic resistance observed in Escherchia coli.
- The species is never capitalized, even when it refers to the name of a place or person.
Example: Juniperus virginiana, not Juniperus Virginia.
- The subspecies is always formatted in the same way as the species; lowercase and italicized. If the subspecies name is the same as the species name (e.g., the tiger Panthera tigris tigris), the species can be abbreviated to the first letter (Panthera t. tigris).
- If a species is unknown, the abbreviation “sp.” is used in place of the species name and is non-italicized.
The abbreviation “spp.” is similarly used to indicate a group of unknown species.
The term “sp. novo” is used to indicate a species that is being described for the first time.
- The genus is always written in full when it is used for the first time within a specific document.
The first initial and a period can be used to shorten the genus in subsequent uses.
Example: “Escherichia coli is a lactose fermenting Gram-negative bacteria. The cases of antibiotic resistance E. coli has been reported frequently.”
- If two species from different genera have the same abbreviation for their genus, the full genus should be written to avoid confusion.
Example: Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes instead of S. aureus and S. pyogenes.
- A species name is never used without a genus or genus abbreviation.
Example: Tribolium confusum or T. confusum but never just confusum.
- Genus by itself can be used to refer to multiple species within the genus.
Example: There are many species of Drosophila that are affected by exposure to alcohol.
- If a common name is used, it is first defined in terms of its scientific name.
Example: Pan troglodytes (chimpanzee)
- The initials or full name of the scientist who named or discovered the species may appear after the scientific name in some cases. The scientist or the individual’s name is not to be italicized.
Example: Juncus inflexus L..
Carolus Linnaeus, an eminent scientist whose name was Latinized, was abbreviated to “L”