Project on a Sea Slug
February 3, 2001
From: Jesika S.
Hey,
I'm currently doing a project on sea slugs. The species that I chose to do research on is named Sagaminopteron ornatum. I have to complete a classification such as Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and species on it, and I got every other name except the species name. I wanted to know if you could please give me the information on that. It would be greatly appreciated.
Mahalo nui loa
Jesika
okiedokie@hawaii.rr.com
Jesika, 2001 (Feb 3) Project on a Sea Slug. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3698Dear Jesika,
You already have the answer. Sagaminopteron ornatum is the species name. The system of naming plants and animals that we use today was first introduced by a Swedish botanist, Carl von Linne, over 200 years ago. One of the basic rules is that a species name must be binomial, that is it is made up of two words. The first word is the genus name, and the second word is called the specific epithet. The second word, in this case ornatum has no status by itself, but when used in combination with the genus name becomes the species name.
The word ornatum has been used many times for different animals so we wouldn't know what we were talking about if we said I am researching 'ornatum'. However the combination Sagaminopteron ornatum can only be used for one species, so no matter where we are in the world that name applies to only one animal.
Good Luck with your project
Bill Rudman.
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