Nomenclature codes: Difference between revisions

The introduction of two-part names (binominal nomenclature) for species by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] was a welcome simplification because as our knowledge of biodiversity expanded, so did the length of the names, many of which had become unwieldy.<ref name="L23CRC">{{cite book |last1=Laurin |first1=Michel |title=The Advent of PhyloCode: The Continuing Evolution of Biological Nomenclature |date=3 August 2023 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-003-09282-7 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9781003092827/advent-phylocode-michel-laurin}}</ref>. With all naturalists worldwide adopting binominal nomenclature, there arose several schools of thought about the details. It became ever more apparent that a detailed body of rules was necessary to govern [[scientific names]]. From the mid-19th century onwards, there were several initiatives to arrive at worldwide-accepted sets of rules. Presently nomenclature codes govern the naming of:

In 2011 a revised ''BioCode'' was proposed that, instead of replacing the existing ''Codes'', would provide a unified context for them, referring to them when necessary.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.bgbm.org/biodivinf/docs/biocode2011/biocode2.html |title=The Draft BioCode (2011) |publisher=International Committee on Bionomenclature (ICB)}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Greuter |first1=W. |last2=Garrity |first2=G. |last3=Hawksworth |first3=D. L. |last4=Jahn |first4=R. |last5=Kirk |first5=P. M. |last6=Knapp |first6=S. |last7=McNeill |first7=J. |last8=Michel |first8=E. |last9=Patterson |first9=D. J. |last10=Pyle |first10=R. |last11=Tindall |first11=B. J. |date=2011 |title=Draft BioCode (2011): Principles and rules regulating the naming of organisms |journal=Taxon |volume=60 |pages=201–212 |doi=10.1002/tax.601019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hawksworth |first=D. L. |date=2011 |title=Introducing the Draft BioCode (2011) |url= http://iczn.org/content/introducing-draft-biocode-2011 |journal=Taxon |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=199–200 |doi=10.1002/tax.601018}}</ref> Changes in the existing codes are slowly being made in the proposed directions.<ref name="BioCode intro">DL Hawksworth (2011) BioCode 2011. Introduction. http://www.bionomenclature.net/biocode2011.html</ref><ref name="BioCode prolo">Werner Greuter (2011) BioCode 2011. Explanatory prologue. http://www.bionomenclature.net/biocode2011.html</ref> However, participants of the last serious discussion of the draft Biocode concluded that it would probably not be implemented in their lifetimes.<ref name="Oren19">{{cite book |last1=Oren |first1=Aharon |title=in Bergey's Manual of Systematics of Archaea and Bacteria |date=2019 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-96060-8 |page=1-12 |edition=1 |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118960608.bm00004.pub2}}</ref>.

Many authors encountered problems in using the Linnean system in phylogenetic classification.<ref name="de Queiroz y Gauthier 1990">de Queiroz, K.; Gauthier, J. (1990). Phylogeny as a Central Principle in Taxonomy: Phylogenetic Definitions of Taxon Names. ''Syst. Zool.'' (39): 307–322. doi:10.2307/2992353 http://vertebrates.si.edu/herps/herps_pdfs/deQueiroz_pdfs/1990deQ_GauSZ.pdf.</ref> In fact, early proponents of rank-based nomenclature, such as Alphonse de Candolle and the authors of the 1886 version of the American Ornithologists' Union code of nomenclature already envisioned that in the future, rank-based nomenclature would have to be abandoned.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Laurin |first1=Michel |title=The PhyloCode : The logical outcome of millennia of evolution of biological nomenclature? |journal=Zoologica Scripta |date=23 July 2023 |doi=10.1111/zsc.12625 |url=https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12625 |issn=0300-3256}}</ref><ref name="L23CRC">{{cite book |last1=Laurin |first1=Michel |title=The Advent of PhyloCode: The Continuing Evolution of Biological Nomenclature |date=3 August 2023 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-003-09282-7 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9781003092827/advent-phylocode-michel-laurin}}</ref>. Another ''Code'' that was developed since 1998 is the ''[[PhyloCode]]'', which would now regulate names defined under [[phylogenetic nomenclature]] instead of the traditional [[Linnaean nomenclature]]. This new approach requires using phylogenetic definitions that refer to "specifiers", analogous to "type" under rank-based nomenclature. Such definitions delimit taxa under a given phylogeny, and this kind of nomenclature does not require use of absolute ranks. The ''Code'' took effect in 2020, with the publication of [https://www.routledge.com/Phylonyms-A-Companion-to-the-PhyloCode/Queiroz-Cantino-Gauthier/p/book/9781138332935 Phylonyms], a monograph that includes a list of the first names established under that code.

The [[International Code of Zoological Nomenclature|zoological code]] does not regulate names of taxa lower than subspecies or higher than superfamily. There are many attempts to introduce some order on the nomenclature of these taxa,<ref>Dubois, A. (2006). Proposed Rules for the incorporation of nomina of higher-ranked zoological taxa in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. 2. The proposed Rules and their rationale. ''Zoosystema'', 28 (1): 165‒258, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265399833_Proposed_Rules_for_the_incorporation_of_nomina_of_higher-ranked_zoological_taxa_in_the_International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature._2._The_proposed_Rules_and_their_rationale].</ref><ref>Frost, D. R. et al. (2006). The Amphibian Tree of Life. ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 297: 1–291, [http://www.uta.edu/biology/mexicoherps/Frost%20et%20al%202006.pdf],</ref> including the [[PhyloCode]], the Duplostensional Nomenclatural System,<ref name="D15">{{cite journal |last1=Dubois |first1=Alain |title=The Duplostensional Nomenclatural System for higher zoological nomenclature |journal=Dumerilia |date=2015 |volume=5 |page=1–108}}</ref><ref name="Duetal21">{{cite journal |last1=Dubois |first1=Alain |last2=Ohler |first2=Annemarie |last3=Pyron |first3=R. Alexander |title=New concepts and methods for phylogenetic taxonomy and nomenclature in zoology, exemplified by a new ranked cladonomy of recent amphibians (Lissamphibia) |journal=Megataxa |date=26 February 2021 |volume=5 |issue=1 |doi=10.11646/megataxa.5.1.1 |url=https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.5.1.1 |issn=2703-3090}}</ref>, and [[Circumscriptional name|circumscriptional nomenclature]].<ref>Klüge, N. J. (2010). Circumscriptional names of higher taxa in Hexapoda. Bionomina, 1, 15-55, [http://www.insecta.bio.spbu.ru/z/dual-nom.htm].</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kluge |first=N. J. |date=1999 |title=A system of alternative nomenclatures of supra-species taxa. Linnaean and post-Linnaean principles of systematics |journal=Entomological Review |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=133–147}}</ref>