Arggghhhh! Nothing gets my goat more than reading a novel or a
report that shows a scientific name with both the genus and
species names with upper case letters or neither word in
italics. It's really simple! Organisms that have been
scientifically described have two names*, a genus name and a
species name. The first one is the genus name. It always begins
with an upper case letter. The second is the species name. It
never has an upper case letter. For an example, I give you
Heterodontus portusjacksoni, better known as the Port Jackson
Shark. The whole name is written in lower case letters except
the first letter of the genus name. Both names are written in
italics. Simple! If you are hand-writing the name and italics
cannot be used, underline both words, Heterodontus
portusjacksoni. The genus and species names are usually derived
from Latin or Greek but often include a person's name. The genus
name Heterodontus comes from the Greek heteros meaning
'different' and dont meaning 'tooth' This refers to the diffe