Editing Binomial nomenclature (section)

=== Authority ===
{{main|Author citation (zoology)|Author citation (botany)}}

In scholarly texts, at least the first or main use of the binomial name is usually followed by the "authority"&nbsp;– a way of designating the scientist(s) who first published the name. The authority is written in slightly different ways in zoology and botany. For names governed by the ''ICZN'' the surname is usually written in full together with the date (normally only the year) of publication. One example of author citation of scientific name is: "[[Amabela|''Amabela'' Möschler, 1880]]."{{NoteTag|Here Amabela is the name of the [[genus]]. It is written in italic form. Followed by the last name of the scientist who discovered it (Heinrich Benno '''Möschler'''), a comma, and the year when it was published.}} The ''ICZN'' recommends that the "original author and date of a name should be cited at least once in each work dealing with the taxon denoted by that name."{{sfn|International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature |1999|loc=Recommendation 51a}} For names governed by the ''ICNafp'' the name is generally reduced to a standard abbreviation and the date omitted. The [[International Plant Names Index]] maintains an approved list of botanical author abbreviations. Historically, abbreviations were used in zoology too.

When the original name is changed, e.g., the species is moved to a different genus, both codes use parentheses around the original authority; the ''ICNafp'' also requires the person who made the change to be given. In the ''ICNafp'', the original name is then called the [[basionym]]. Some examples:
* (Plant) ''[[Amaranthus retroflexus]]'' L.&nbsp;– "L." is the standard abbreviation for "Linnaeus"; the absence of parentheses shows that this is his original name.
* (Plant) ''[[Hyacinthoides italica]]'' (L.) Rothm.&nbsp;– Linnaeus first named the Italian bluebell ''Scilla italica''; that is the basionym. [[Werner Hugo Paul Rothmaler|Rothmaler]] later transferred it to the genus ''Hyacinthoides''.
* (Animal) ''[[Passer domesticus]]'' (Linnaeus, 1758)&nbsp;– the original name given by Linnaeus was ''Fringilla domestica''; unlike the ''ICNafp'', the ''ICZN'' does not require the name of the person who changed the genus ([[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Summers-Smith |first=J. Denis |title=The Sparrows |publisher=T. & A. D. Poyser |date=1988 |location=Calton, Staffordshire, England |isbn=978-0-85661-048-6 |others=illustrated by Robert Gillmor |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/sparrowsstudyofg0000summ |pages=114–115}}</ref>) to be given.