Scientific names

CEBU, Philippines - December 16, 2010 saw the unveiling of designs for the new set of Philippine peso bills. This means that the look and sizes of our money (also referred to as legal tender) underwent major changes.

President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Cojuangco Aquino III’s signature appears on these notes, as well as that of Amado Tetangco Jr. being the current governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

However, it was noticed later on that aside from geographical errors (map locations of the Tubbataha Reef and the St. Paul Subterranean Park in Palawan), and on the specific hue for the rare blue-nape parrot, the Scientific names printed at the back of the new bills had typographical errors.

It’s forgivable, though, because nobody’s perfect. But to say that nothing’s actually wrong — or that it’s ok for as long as it’s readable — is a “major foul.”

Why? Because writing scientific names is governed by international rules. For example, the Philippine tarsier’s scientific name is written at the back of the P200 bill as “Tarsius Syrichta.” This is never okay. Didn’t they consult a taxonomist? The “s” in syrichta should have been written in small letter.

Here’s the complete explanation from BioKIDS: “Every recognized species on earth (at least in theory) is given a two-part scientific name. This system is called “binomial nomenclature.” These names are important because they allow people throughout the world to communicate unambiguously about species of flora and fauna. This works because there are sets of international rules about how to name animals/plants and zoologists/botanists try to avoid naming the same thing more than once, though this does sometimes happen. These naming rules mean that every scientific name is unique. For example, if the Philippine tarsier is given the scientific name Tarsius syrichta, no other animal species can be given the same name. So, if you are a Canadian biologist studying relatives of tarsiers and you want to discuss about Bohol tarsiers with a Filipino researcher, you both use the scientific name and know exactly what the other is talking about.”

Further, an article entitled “How to write a Scientific name correctly” posted on cactiguide.com emphasized that there are “precise conventions to follow when writing a Scientific name.” This is because in biology, each living organism has been classified using a scientific name of two terms usually derived from Greek or Latin roots. The first name (capitalized) is the Genus or Genus of the organism, the second (not capitalized) is its species or species.

In the Scientific name Tarsius syrichta, Tarsius is the Genus name. The Genus name is always underlined or italicized. The first letter of the Genus name is always capitalized.

Meanwhile, the specific name/epithet is written second. The specific epithet is always underlined or italicized. The first letter of the specific epithet name is never capitalized.

This is the universal law of taxonomy (the science of classification derived from the Greek word “taxis” for order or arrangement and “nomos” meaning law or science). How can we expect people to be obedient to the country’s laws if a simple scientific law, as old as time, doesn’t get the respect from one of our nation’s governing bodies?