Scientific nomenclature

[djackso]

Should the scientific names of species be italicised?

[Tursiops2]

It's the convention for published material. I suppose it's optional on WAB, personally I think it looks better if you can be bothered.
T2

[Teal]

Yes but not Genus names

[zan]

Scientific names should be typed as:

Genus species (e.g. Rattus norvegicus)

with the genus captilised and the species lower case. The genus must be italicised as well!

Higher levels (e.g. families, classes, orders etc.) do not need to be italicised, but should be capitalised if using the latin term (e.g. Decapoda), but not if it is anglicised(sp?) (e.g. decapods).

Hope this makes sense adn is a bit of help

zan

[djackso]

Thanks all very much - wasn't sure if it was a nerdy question - or be a little serious for WAB.

There is a lot of impressive knowledge on this site!