Specific name (zoology)

The grammar of species names

• A noun in apposition to the genus name, for example, the scientific name of the lion, Panthera leo. In these cases, the word for the genus and the word for the species do not necessarily have to agree in gender. Species names which are nouns in apposition are sometimes the vernacular name of the organism in Latin or Ancient Greek, or the name of another organism which the organism itself resembles.
• A noun in the genitive case.
• * This is common in parasites: Xenos vesparum.
• * Proper nouns which are names of people and places are often used in the genitive case. For example, the name of the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae which means "Latimeria of Chalumna", is a reference to the area near the mouth of the Chalumna River in the Indian Ocean, where the coelacanth was first found, i.e. its type locality.
• An adjective which must agree in case and gender with the genus: Felis silvestris

  Differences from botany