Fun with Taxonomy: On the Naming of Species

Science Ahead Warning!: Much like Dr. Sheldon Cooper and his friends, the staff of MOSI Outside are dedicated geeks. We love entomology and etymology, zoology and botany and the curious naming conventions of all living things. Thus, in our geekery, we wish to give the gift of a taxonomic explanation series that we shall call: Fun with Taxonomy.

We're awfully fun at parties. 

In an attempt to protect all brains from accidental science content, we will helpfully label all posts in this series with a tree of life image. When you see this tree, mentally prepare yourself for science content, terms with which you may not be familiar, and possibly a few history lessons. Get yourself a cup of tea and dive into some science. Now, let's have some Fun with Taxonomy!

Let's Bestow Some Names!

In this post we're going to take a look at the naming of new species and how it works, in a scientific sense. How do new species become verified and obtain their binomial name? Slowly and arduously. It's a bit of an involved process.

Discovery

If a scientist, adventurer, or person out for a hike in the woods thinks they have found a new species, there is a process that can be followed to find out if the organism they have found is novel and unknown to science, an unknown variety or subspecies of an organism, or something that has already been discovered and named. This involves a great deal of investigation, consultations with experts, extensive review and publication. 

Type Specimens

Type specimen for Marocaster coronatus
Muséum de Toulouse

First, we start with a type specimen. A type specimen is a preserved organism, generally kept in a museum or university collection for study. However, in cases where the organism is threatened or endangered, sometimes the type specimen will be a photograph and in older cases, a drawing of the organism. After a type specimen has been identified, the investigation can begin.

Research and Study

Next, the scientist or scientists will contact their colleagues who are experts on the taxon and consult with them. In biology, a taxon (plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Other experts in the field can help identify already known organisms or point the scientist toward a type specimen in a collection that should be studied.

If no expert is able to identify the organism, the investigation must go deeper. The type specimen is compared against similar type specimens and vouchered specimens in institutional collections. Additionally, the scientist must review historical literature on the subject to see if it has already been identified or described in a publication. At this point, DNA testing and comparison may be used to determine if the organism is unknown to science. If the specimen still seems to be new to science, it must be given a name and a description.

Unidentified Tortoise Beetles. Part of Don Ehlen's "Insect Safari" collection.

The Rules of Naming

The names given to a new species may describe some aspect of the organism, commemorate a name, reference a location or even be nonsense. However, they must be considered pronounceable. If you have ever reviewed a bunch of scientific names, you are likely laughing right now. I am too. These Latin names, compound names and sometimes "Latinized" words can be a bit of a nightmare. Yeah, scientists also sometimes mispronounce the name of a species because they have only ever encountered the name in text and they sounded it out for themselves. You can mispronounce them too. It's cool. We likely won't poke fun at mispronounced names but might gently suggest an alternate or corrected pronunciation. We basically try not to judge.

Original title page of Linnaeus's 

Systema Naturae, published in 1735.

There is a code for how the naming of a new species is to be carried out. In Zoology, there exists the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature  that is kept by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). In Botany, you would instead refer to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN). Bacteria use a whole other code for naming: International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB)

Formal Description

The formal description proposed for a new organism must be incredibly thorough. All physical characteristics must be described in detail, from general to specific minutia of appearance. Special attention is paid to the characteristics that define the specimen as a new species. The description should also involve observed variations that have been found in populations of the organism and a description of behavior, habitat and anything else that can be used to help explain the new organism and why it is different from similar species.

Formal descriptions must be scientifically objective, yet vivid and clear visual explanations. The technical details of the description must be exact but, at the same time, the description must paint a picture of how the species looks. Not an easy task. 

Peer Review

Once named and described, the information must be submitted as a manuscript to a scientific and peer-review journal. First, an editor will review the manuscript to make sure that it falls within the scope of the journal and upholds all of the journal requirements and policies for submission. Next, a panel of experts will be selected to review the manuscript. These reviewers are unknown to the author of the manuscript, and sometimes the name of the author is withheld from them for possible control of bias. Each reviewer will review the manuscript and then return a report to the editor with their suggestions for revision. Pretty much no manuscript is accepted exactly as-is and almost all require some tinkering before the manuscript goes to print.

Cover of the first issue of Nature, 

4 November 1869

If you want the serious nitty gritty of the peer review process and the criteria by which reviewers judge manuscripts, I would recommend reading: PUBLISHING YOUR WORK IN A JOURNAL: UNDERSTANDING THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS by Michael L. Voight

Publication

If the manuscript is accepted, the journal will likely work with the author to make small corrections or improvements to the manuscript and then publish in an upcoming addition. A species will be considered "scientifically described" once a binomial name and formal description have been published in a peer-reviewed, scientific journal.

Learn More

• The Rules We Play By: Curious Taxonomy
• How Are Species Named?: Encyclopedia of Life
• Fun with Taxonomy series: MOSI Outside