This page documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense and the occasional exception. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Main article: Wikipedia:Naming conventions

The naming conventions that apply to fauna have been extensively discussed and continue to be discussed on the mailing list, and the following guidelines have broad consensus approval.

Article title

If there is a common name in English, use that (following Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names) and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)).

• Lion, Cheetah, Giraffe, Koala, Yak, etc.

Use the singular form, following Wikipedia:Naming conventions (plurals).

• Beetle (not "beetles").

If the article is about an animal belonging to a group where Wikipedia editors have agreed on a standard for choosing a common name, follow that standard:

• Editors involved with Wikipedia:WikiProject Birds have agreed to use the official recommendations of ornithological societies, for example Peregrine Falcon (not duck hawk, Falco peregrinus, etc.)
• In this case, beware of informal common names. Many species have multiple common names; however, only one of these is usually recognised as formally correct. For example, the Southern Boobook is known in various parts of the world as "ruru", "mopoke", "morepork", "boobook", "New Zealand Owl", "Tasmanian Spotted Owl", and so on. Create redirects from these colloquial names, but place the main entry under the official common name — in this case, "Southern Boobook".

Don't use common names when it isn't clear what the name refers to.

• The name sardine is used for many different species of small oily fishes; the only appropriate thing to do is to write a disambiguation page (or an article describing the attributes said species have in common) under that name.

However, when there's a clear core meaning for the common name, with other meanings by analogy, then it's OK to use the common name for the "true" group:

• Many elongated fishes are known as "eels", but "true eels" are in the order Anguilliformes, so it's appropriate to place them at the article name "eel", with the others listed at eel (disambiguation).

If there is no common name, or if the only common name would be taken by a higher-ranked group, or if the only common name is needed for another article or a disambiguation page, use the scientific name:

• Drosophila melanogaster has no common name.
• Monocentris japonica is commonly known as the "pinecone fish", but so are all the other species in the family Monocentridae, so that name is not available.
• Fish in Sciaenidae are known as "drums", but drum is used for the musical instrument. (In cases like this, the article can be placed either at the scientific name or at a disambiguated common name like drum (fish).)

If there is a choice of scientific names, use the lowest-ranked taxon which the article covers.

• Xenoturbella (not Xenoturbellidae or Xenoturbellida).

Except that for extinct genera which contain only a single described species, name the article after the genus.

• Nodocephalosaurus (not Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis)

• For monotypic genera (ie. where the genus has only one known species), redirect the genus to the species article.

Redirects

Make redirects from alternative common names:

• New Zealand Owl → Southern Boobook

Make redirects from scientific names:

• Ninox novaeseelandiae → Southern Boobook
• Coleoptera → Beetle
• Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis → Nodocephalosaurus

There may be several scientific names that need to be redirected:

• Both Phascolarctos cinereus and Phascolarctos → Koala (since there is only one species in the genus)
• Both Xenoturbellida and Xenoturbellidae → Xenoturbella (since there is only one described genus in the phylum)

Make redirects from alternative capitalisations:

• Southern boobook → Southern Boobook

Make redirects from English forms of scientific names:

• Xenoturbellid → Xenoturbella
• Nodocephalosaur → Nodocephalosaurus

Article text

The scientific name of an organism or group should appear in the opening line of the entry. Alternative names should be mentioned in the text where applicable, with bold type in the opening line of the entry if they are in wide use, or elsewhere in the article (with or without the bold type) if they are less-used. This is usually a matter for individual judgement.

• The Southern Boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae), also called the mopoke, is a small brown owl found mainly in New Zealand ...
• Grunters or tigerperches are fishes in the family Terapontidae ...
• The rove beetles are a large family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra ...

Capitalisation of common names of species

Main article: Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms

Insofar as there is any consensus among Wikipedia editors about capitalisation of common names of species, it is that each WikiProject can decide on its own rules for capitalisation. In general, common (vernacular) names of flora and fauna should be written in lower case — for example, "oak" or "lion". There are a limited number of exceptions to this:

1. Where the name is the first word of the sentence, it should be capitalised as any other word would be. For example "Black bears eat white suckers and blueberries."

2. Where the common name contains a proper noun, such as the name of a person or place, that proper noun should be capitalised, e.g. "The Bengal tiger has a range of over 500 km." or "The Roosevelt elk is a subspecies of Cervus canadensis."

3. For specific groups of organisms, there are specific rules of capitalisation based on current and historic usage among those who study the organisms. These should ordinarily be followed:

i) Official common names of birds are normally capitalised

4. In a very few cases, a set of officially-established common names are recognised only within a country or a geographic region. Those common names may be capitalised according to local custom but it should be understood that not all editors will have access to the references needed to support these names; in such cases, using the general recommendation is also acceptable.

In any case, where used in an article title, a redirect from the alternative capitalisation is created.

In a hyphenated name, the part after the hyphen is not capitalised. For example, White-tailed deer, Red-winged Blackbird, Wilson's Storm-petrel. If in doubt, check with a field guide or official list.

When you create a new entry, whatever the capitalisation chosen, always create a redirect in the alternative case. For example, name the entry Bald Eagle but create a redirect to it from bald eagle or vice versa. Creating the redirect is not optional, but will not be needed for single word species names. (See Wikipedia:Redirect.) There are some rare instances where lower case and capitalised versions have different meanings. Suitable links or disambiguation should then be used.

Capitalisation of common names of groups

The common name of a group of species, or an individual creature of indeterminate species, is not capitalised.

• ferret, mouse, owl, kingfisher, surfperch, rove beetle.

Capitalisation of scientific names

Orders, families and other taxa above genus level are written with an initial capital and in roman (not italic) text.

• Bats belong to the order Chiroptera; rats and mice are members of the family Muridae and the order Rodentia.

However, there is generally an English form for a member of the group, and this should not be capitalised:

• Members of the order Chiroptera are "chiropterans"; members of the family Muridae are "murids" and members of the order Rodentia are "rodents".

The names of genera are always italicised and capitalised.

• Turdus, Falco, Anas.

The second part of a binomial species name is never capitalised (even when derived from a proper noun), always italicised, and is always preceded by either the genus name or an abbreviation of it if the full version has occurred previously:

• The Southern Boobook is Ninox novaeseelandiae or N. novaeseelandiae.

The same applies to the third part of a trinomial name.

• The Arctic Wolf is Canis lupus arctos or C. l. arctos.

See also

• Naming conventions
• Binomial names
• Trinomial names
• WikiProject Animals
• WikiProject Tree of Life
• WikiProject Birds