Scientific name

the Latin name used by scientists around the world to describe a particular plant or animal. Scientific names have two parts. The first part describes the genus, or group of related species. The second part describes the specific species. Example: Acromyrmex versicolor is the scientific name for the leafcutter ant. There is only one scientific name for each plant or animal and scientific names are always italicized.

Ranked and Ready: The Most Important Diseases To Study

Written by:

Megan Berry

Are we armed with all the information to fight the worst diseases, even the ones that we’ve just discovered? Scientists wanted to create a list to identify the worst diseases to gain more information and be ready to help treat these diseases.

The Red Book List

Take a look at the common and scientific names on the 1964 list (below). Can you tell which is the common name and which is the scientific? One of the first things you should notice about the scientific names is that some of the species have two names while other have three. The ones with three names are not just species, but a small group within species called a "subspecies."