[Taxacom] italicizing names

[Paul van Rijckevorsel]

From: "Nadia Talent" <nadia.talent at utoronto.ca>
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2015 6:34 PM

> May I suggest that for an “introductory biology textbook” the ICZN is not 
> the entire story? The relevant part of the ICN is the preface: "scientific 
> names under the jurisdiction of the Code, irrespective of rank, are 
> consistently printed in italic type”.
> http://www.iapt-taxon.org/nomen/main.php?page=pf

***
Yes, there is more than one Code of nomenclature. The style
adopted by all the Codes of nomenclature for their own use
(in the respective Codes themselves) is to italicize all
scientific names. The exception is the zoological Code
which uses three different styles, depending on the 'range'
of scientific name.

The connection with Latin is not all that strong: when it was
decided that the ICBN (now ICNafp) was going to consistently
italicize all scientific names (in all ranks) it was also decided
to drop italicization for Latin words and phrases, so as to
have the scientific names stand out better. And the Code
for viruses italicizes all scientific names, although many
of these do not have a Latin form at all.

Outside the Codes scientific names may occasionally
be presented in bold, and it is not all uncommon to have
an index presenting scientific names in roman, bold and
italics concurrently, to indicate their status.

Paul