How do scientists name a new species?

The science of naming organisms is called taxonomy, and the current system

used for naming organisms originated in the 1753 when a Swedish naturalist-

physician Carolus Linnaeus published Species Plantarum (= plant species).

Linnaeus' treatment of plant names was different because rather than using

a long descriptive phrase, each plant received a unique binomial (2 Word

name), a species name, which consists of a genus, like Helianthus

(literally sun flower) and a modifying specific epithet, like annuus

(meaning annual). Helianthus annuus is a species name. The genus

Helianthus includes other species like Helianthus tuberosa, but no two

species can share the same name. The same system has been applied to all

organisms. All scientific names are in Latin because that was the

language of scholars and provides a common ground for scientists of all

countries. Many names are descriptive or derived directly from Greek or

Latin names. Others are named after mythological figures, and some names

honor someone. The genus Linnea, a very handsome flower, honors Linnaeus

himself.

Naming and identification go hand in hand. People and scientists want to

know, "What is this organism?" Names are linked to specimens in natural

history collections. I am curator of our university's small plant

collection, which only numbers some 50,000 to 60,000 specimens, but yet it

still takes up a big room to house them. Large collections have millions

of specimens and take up entire floors of big museums. When a biologist

finds an unfamiliar organism they compare it to collections of known

organisms. If no exact matches in a genus can be found, the biologist can

construct a new species name, which then must be described in detail,

published, and linked to a specimen. Maybe if the organism is really

different, it may require a new genus to be constructed. This takes real

experts who have studied the organisms for years. New species are

constantly being discovered and identified, so the process of naming

continues. When you use a field guide to flowers, or birds, or shells, or

insects, you are using knowledge accumulated by many scientists over many

years. But this is how every scientist begins, by learning to recognize

and name common organisms.

Organisms also have common names, but these differ from place to place,

from person to person, and from country to country, and the same name can

refer to different organisms. So while these may be fun and familiar,

they are not scientific.