A tautonym is a scientific name of a species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling, such as ''

Rattus rattus The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is ...

''. The first part of the name is the name of the genus and the second part is referred to as the ''specific epithet'' in the '' International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' and the ''specific name'' in the ''

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature 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 publisher, the ...

''. Tautonymy (i.e., the usage of tautonymous names) is permissible in zoological nomenclature (see

List of tautonyms The following is a list of tautonyms: zoological names of species consisting of two identical words (the generic name and the specific name have the same spelling). Such names are allowed in zoology, but not in botany, where the two parts of the ...

for examples). In past editions of the zoological Code, the term tautonym was used, but it has now been replaced by the more inclusive "tautonymous names"; these include trinomial names such as ''

Gorilla gorilla gorilla The western lowland gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla'') is one of two Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla (''Gorilla gorilla'') that lives in montane, primary and secondary forest and lowland swampland in central Africa ...

'' and '' Bison bison bison''. For animals, a tautonym implicitly (though not always) indicates that the species is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

of its genus. This can also be indicated by a species name with the specific epithet ''typus'' or ''typicus'', although more commonly the type species is designated another way.

Botanical nomenclature

In the current rules for botanical nomenclature (which apply retroactively), tautonyms are explicitly prohibited. One example of a botanical tautonym is 'Larix larix'. The earliest name for the

European larch ''Larix decidua'', the European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains as well as the Pyrenees, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. It ...

is ''Pinus larix'' L. (1753) but Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten did not agree with the placement of the species in ''

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ...

'' and decided to move it to ''

Larix Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

'' in 1880. His proposed name created a tautonym. Under rules first established in 1906, which are applied retroactively, ''Larix larix'' cannot exist as a formal name. In such a case either the next earliest validly published name must be found, in this case ''

Larix decidua ''Larix decidua'', the European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains as well as the Pyrenees, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. It ...

'' Mill. (1768), or (in its absence) a new epithet must be published. However, it is allowed for both parts of the name of a species to mean the same ( pleonasm), without being identical in spelling. For instance, ''Arctostaphylos uva-ursi'' means

bearberry Bearberries ( indigenous kinnickinnick) are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. Unlike the other species of ''Arctostaphylos'' (see manzanita), they are adapted to Arctic and Subarctic climates, and have a circumpolar ...

twice, in Greek and Latin respectively; ''Picea omorika'' uses the Latin and Serbian terms for a spruce. Instances that repeat the genus name with a slight modification, such as ''Lycopersicon lycopersicum'' (Greek and Latinized Greek, a rejected name for the

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

) and ''

Ziziphus zizyphus Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus '' Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a smal ...

'', have been contentious, but are in accord with the Code of Nomenclature.

References

External links

{{wiktionary *''International Code of Zoological Nomenclature''
Chapter 4, Art. 18 and Chapter 6, Art. 23.3.7
Biological nomenclature Reduplication Taxonomy (biology)

Botanical nomenclature

See also

References

External links