In biology, within the science of
scientific nomenclature
Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...
, i.e. the naming of
organism
An organism is any life, living thing that functions as an individual. Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have be ...
s, an orthographical variant (abbreviated orth. var.) in
botany
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
or an orthographic error in
zoology
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
, is a spelling mistake, typing mistake or writing mistake within a scientific publication that resulted in a somewhat different name being accidentally used for an already-named organism. The rules that govern what to do when this happens are laid out in the relevant codes of nomenclature.
In botanical names
In
botanical nomenclature
Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; Botany, botanical nomenclature then provides na ...
, an orthographical variant (abbreviated orth. var.) is a variant spelling of the same name. For example, ''Hieronima'' and ''Hyeronima'' are orthographical variants of ''
Hieronyma''. One of the spellings must be treated as the
correct one.
ICBN
The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...
Vienna Code
(2006), Article 61 In this case, the spelling ''Hieronyma'' has been
conserved and is to be used as the correct spelling.
An inadvertent use of one of the other spellings has no consequence: the name is to be treated as if it were correctly spelled. Any subsequent use is to be corrected.
Orthographical variants are treated in Art 61 of the ''
ICBN
The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...
''.
In zoological names
In
zoology
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
, "orthographical variants" in the formal sense do not exist; a misspelling or orthographic error is treated as a ''
lapsus'', a form of inadvertent error. The
first reviser is allowed to choose one variant for mandatory further use, but in other ways, these errors generally have no further formal standing. Inadvertent misspellings are treated in Art. 32-33 of the ''
ICZN
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its formal author, t ...
''.
References
{{reflist
Botanical nomenclature
Zoological nomenclature