Scientific name indicates taxonomic position
Vipera ammodytes ammodytes
t Taxonomy is the science of classifying , describing and naming of organisms in biology . It is divided into two branches : systematics , which deals with the evolutionary relationships of the organisms , and taxonomy , which is an auxiliary science in biology dealing with nomenclature and cataloguing . The first well-known taxonomy of organisms was compiled by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century B . C . The first taxonomy that is scientific in a modern sense as well is attributable to Carolus Linnaeus .
Not a lexicon of any languages would be sufficient for the designating of the known species .
Recent forms of life have evolved as a result of continuous biological evolution . The number of organisms living in the world can only be estimated , it may even reach tens of millions . The number of organisms principally described and given a name by taxonomists ( so-called nominal species ) is approximately 1.9 million , but most of them we know nothing about . The knowledge accumulated on the enormous diversity of organisms is impossible to be applied in everyday life without classification . Classification is not only facilitated by scientific knowledge summarizing mostly morphological and functional descriptive features , but also those names and nomenclature rules that nomenclature and onomatology deals with . Summary descriptions or nomenclatures also transform with the change of science . The first well-known taxonomy of organisms was compiled by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century B . C . The first taxonomy that is scientific in a modern sense as well is attributable to Carolus Linnaeus . Binomial nomenclature was introduced by Linnaeus in his book Species plantarum ( Systema Naturae ) published in 1753 . Nowadays such names can be given to animal and plant species , bacteria , and to a certain extent , viruses . The binomial nomenclature of species is not only applicable to recent species but the fossil species of the geological past .
In biology , all species have a scientific name that is also called a Latin or taxonomical name . The scientific names of the species consist of two words , that is to say they are binomial ( or binominal ) names . The system of such names is also called a binomial / binominal nomenclature . The use of scientific names makes the designating of the different species possible in order that they should be worldwide uniform and independent of vernacular differences ; all the more is it necessary because not a lexicon of any languages would be sufficient for the designating of the known species .
The structure of the species names is in compliance with the generic and specific logical principle , which indicate the taxonomic position of the species at the same time . The first word of the binomial name is the generic name ( genus name ), which represents the genus where the species belongs to . For example , the Latin name of the meadow viper is Vipera ursinii . The first part of the scientific name indicates that this species belong to the Vipera genus , where the closer relatives of the vipers , such as nose-horned viper ( Vipera ammodytes ), are classified as well . The second word of the binomial name is the distinctive specific ( species ) name , which differentiates the given species from the other species of the genus ( in the
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