Now we're going to take a look at how we name organisms under our modern taxonomic system, and here we use what we call binomial nomenclature. So binomial nomenclature, that literally means the two-name naming system. So this is just this two-word naming system used in Linnaean taxonomy. Now, binomial nomenclature uses Latin names or at least Latin-sounding names. We're going to use Latin spelling.

Sometimes they can be a little hard to spell or a little hard to pronounce, but with a little practice, you can get it. Now these are two-word naming systems. So the first word is always going to be the genus name, and that genus name when you write it, it should always be capitalized. The second word is going to be what we call the specific or the species name. That species or specific name, we always write in lowercase and the entire thing altogether should always be written in italics unless you're handwriting it, then you underline it.

Alright, so genus species, let's look at some examples here. First example, our friend here, the lion. Well, we've already seen this name. Its name is Panthera leo. So Panthera, that's the genus name. We can see it's capitalized. Leo, that's the specific name. We can see it's lowercase, the entire thing is written in italics. Well, let's compare this to another cat that we know here, the tiger. We've already said that these things are part of the same genus.

So we know the first half of the tiger's name then, right? It's Panthera, and it's going to be Panthera tigris. Now remember, we said that our taxonomy should reflect phylogeny. It should reflect evolutionary relationships. So by seeing that these have the same genus name, I already know something about them.

I know that they are somewhat closely related to each other because they're part of the same genus. Now we can compare this to another cat. We're going to introduce here Button. Button is a domestic cat and domestic cats, well their name is Felis catus, Right, so it's a different genus and there's other species in this genus. There's the African wildcat, the European wildcat.

There are others, but we can tell right away again because our taxonomy reflects phylogeny, that the lion and the tiger are more closely related to each other than they are to the domestic cat because they share that genus name. Alright. So now going forward, just remember always write them in italics. The first name capitalized. That's the genus name.

Second name, lowercase, that's the specific name. Examples and practice to follow. I'll see you there.