A glossed exposition of the international rules of zoological nomenclature, preceded by a historical sketch

Abstract

The zoological nomenclature, as codified by the respective International Commission, should be known and followed by all zoologists and by all those who have to name animal species in their works or publications. However, many are those who ignore it and there are even more than a few zoologists who disregard it. The proof that it is ignored is evident in many teaching texts, especially in parositology, and in many scientific papers in journals of medicine, biology, and so on.

Much of the blame for this ignorance lies with our schools and faculties where little or nothing is required of such a fundamental subject that should be included in the teaching of biological sciences. On the other hand, those who wish to learn about nomenclatory issues find that there is an astonishing bibliographic poverty on the subject, derived from the scarce interest among zoologists to comment on such issues.

For these reasons we have decided to publish the international code of zoological nomenclature updated, but in the particular form that the reader will see, and also augmented with additions and glosses. In addition, we thought it would be of interest to publish beforehand a historical sketch as an introduction. We have adapted such a criterion because this work is intended especially for students and those just initiated in zoological studies. They would not read, because of its dryness, a literal translation of the official code, composed of a multitude of articles, paragraphs and "recommendations". We assure you that we have faithfully included in this version all the essential contents of the code. For ease of reference, an analytical index has been added at the end, and those items of lesser interest have been written in small type.

We would like to thank Dr. Angel Cabrera, member of the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature and professor at the Universities of Buenos Aires and La Plata, for his valuable information.