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International Code of Zoological Nomenclature

The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN ) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code , for its publisher, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (which shares the acronym "ICZN"). The rules principally regulate: Zoological nomenclature is independent of other systems of nomenclature, for example botanical nomenclature. This implies that animals can have the same generic names as plants. The rules and recommendations have one fundamental aim: to provide the maximum universality and continuity in the naming of all animals, except where taxonomic judgment dictates otherwise. The code is meant to guide only the nomenclature of animals, while leaving zoologists freedom in classifying new taxa. In other words, whether a species itself is or is not a recognized entity is a subjective decision, but what name should be applied to it
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Principles

In regulating the names of animals it holds by six central principles, which were first set out (as principles) in the third edition of the code (1985): Principle of binominal nomenclature edit This is the principle that the scientific name of a species, and not of a taxon at any other rank, is a combination of two names; the use of a trinomen for the name of a subspecies and of uninominal names for taxa above the species group is in accord with this principle. This means that in the system of nomenclature for animals, the name of a species is composed of a combination of a generic name and a specific name; together they make a "binomen". No other rank can have a name composed of two names. Examples: Species Giraffa camelopardalis Subspecies have a name composed of three names, a "trinomen": generic name, specific name, subspecific name: Subspecies Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi Taxa at a rank above species have a name composed of one name, a "uninominal na
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Commission

The rules in the code apply to all users of zoological names. However, its provisions can be interpreted, waived, or modified in their application to a particular case when strict adherence would cause confusion. Such exceptions are not made by an individual scientist, no matter how well-respected within the field, but only by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, acting on behalf of all zoologists. The commission takes such action in response to proposals submitted to it. Carl Linnaeus named the domestic cat Felis catus in 1758; Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber named the wildcat Felis silvestris in 1775. For taxonomists who consider these two kinds of cat a single species the principle of priority means that the species ought to be named F. catus , but in practice almost all biologists have used F. silvestris . In 2003, the commission issued a ruling (Opinion 2027) that "conserved the usage of 17 specific names based on wild species, which are pre-dated,
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