Naming New Taxa of Prokaryotes: Rules and Recommendations

The nomenclature of prokaryotes is regulated by the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP; the Prokaryotic Code). The code follows the Linnaean binomial nomenclature system. Names of taxa are Latin or latinized words, usually taken from Latin or classical Greek. Naming new taxa of prokaryotes therefore requires a basic knowledge of the Latin lexicon and a few rules of Latin grammar. However, most microbiologists who describe new taxa of bacteria and archaea lack an elementary understanding of Latin and the ways Latin and Greek word elements are used to form names that comply with the rules of the nomenclature code. This chapter presents the most important rules and recommendation of the ICNP and its orthography appendix (Appendix 9), as well as the basics of Latin and Greek grammar and examples to show how to use dictionaries and how to present the etymologies of proposed names, to assist authors describing new prokaryotic taxa to propose names that can be validly published.