Editing Encyclopedia:Manual of Style (section)

===Animals, plants, and other organisms===
{{Shortcut|MOS:LIFE}}
{{Hatnote|For more detail on capitalization, see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters|Animals, plants, and other organisms}}; on italicization, {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting|Italic type}}. See also {{section link|Wikipedia:Lead section|Organisms}} for handling of first sentence. See [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (fauna)]] and [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (flora)]] for article title guidelines.}}

When using '''[[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic ("scientific") names]]''', capitalize and italicize the genus: {{xt|''Berberis''}}, {{xt|''Erithacus''}}. (Supergenus and subgenus, when applicable, are treated the same way.) Italicize but do not capitalize taxonomic ranks at the level of species and below: {{xt|''Berberis darwinii''}}, {{xt|''Erithacus rubecula superbus''}}, {{xt|''Acacia coriacea'' subsp. ''sericophylla''}}; no exception is made for proper names forming part of scientific names. Higher taxa (order, family, etc.) are capitalized in Latin ({{xt|Carnivora}}, {{xt|Felidae}}) but not in their English equivalents ({{xt|carnivorans}}, {{xt|felids}}); they are not italicized in either form, except for viruses, where all names accepted by the [[International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses|ICTV]] are italicized ({{xt|''Retroviridae''}}).

'''[[Cultivar]]''' and '''[[cultivar group]]''' names of plants are not italicized, and are capitalized (including the word ''Group'' in the name); cultivar names appear within single quotes ({{xt|''Malus domestica'' 'Red Delicious'}}), while cultivar groups do not ({{xt|''Cynara cardunculus'' Scolymus Group}}).

'''English [[Common name|vernacular ("common") names]]''' are given in lower case in article prose ([[Plains zebra|{{xt|plains zebra}}]]<!-- animal species -->, [[Mountain maple|{{xt|mountain&nbsp;maple}}]]<!-- plant species -->, and [[Southwestern red-tailed hawk|{{xt|southwestern red-tailed hawk}}]]<!-- bird subspecies -->) and in sentence case at the start of sentences and in other places where the first letter of the first word is capitalized.{{efn|name=Sentence case}} They are additionally capitalized where they contain proper names: [[Przewalski's horse|{{xt|Przewalski's&nbsp;horse}}]]<!-- eponym -->, [[California condor|{{xt|California&nbsp;condor}}]]<!-- typical geonym -->, and [[Fair-maid-of-France|{{xt|fair-maid-of-France}}]]<!-- unusual but important illustrative case -->. This applies to species and subspecies, as in the previous examples, as well as to general names for groups or types of organism: [[Bird of prey|{{xt|bird&nbsp;of&nbsp;prey}}]]<!-- cross-order ecological niche -->, [[Oak|{{xt|oak}}]]<!-- plant family -->, [[Great apes|{{xt|great&nbsp;apes}}]]<!-- animal family -->, [[Bryde's whales|{{xt|Bryde's&nbsp;whales}}]]<!-- species group -->, [[Livestock guardian dog|{{xt|livestock&nbsp;guardian&nbsp;dog}}]]<!-- domestic type -->, [[Poodle|{{xt|poodle}}]]<!-- domestic breed group but not a breed -->, [[Van cat|{{xt|Van&nbsp;cat}}]]<!-- domestic geographic landrace -->, [[Wolfdog|{{xt|wolfdog}}]]<!-- hybrid/crossbreed/mongrel not recognized as a standardized breed -->. When the common name coincides with a scientific taxon, do not capitalize or italicize, except where addressing the organism taxonomically: {{xt|A lynx is any of the four medium-sized wild cat species within the genus ''Lynx''.}} Non-English vernacular names, when relevant to include, are handled like any other non-English terms: italicized as such, and capitalized only if the rules of the native language require it. Non-English names that have become English-assimilated are treated as English ([[Ayahuasca|{{xt|ayahuasca}}]], [[Okapi|{{xt|okapi}}]]).

'''[[Breed standard|Standardized breeds]]''' should generally retain the capitalization used in the breed standards.{{efn|name=Standardized breeds|1=Breeds guideline added per a {{Diff2|881140543|RfC on capitalization of the names of standardized breeds|December 2018 RfC}}. "Standardized breed" lacks a perfectly clear meaning, but does encompass any breed subject to the [[breed standard]] or [[studbook]] of a notable breeder/fancier organization. Various other groupings of domesticated animals are not standardized breeds: ancient historical varieties, breed groups, feral populations, landraces, and [[crossbreed]]s or [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrids]] that no major organizations recognize as breeds. Many often are not [[Wikipedia:Notability|notable]] anyway.}} Examples: [[German Shepherd|{{xt|German Shepherd}}]], [[Russian White goat|{{xt|Russian White goat}}]], [[Berlin Short-faced Tumbler|{{xt|Berlin Short-faced Tumbler}}]]. As with plant cultivars, this applies whether or not the included noun is a proper name, in contrast to how vernacular names of species are written. However, unlike cultivars, breeds are never put in single quotation marks, and their names are never part of a scientific name. A species term appended at the end for disambiguation ("cat", "hound", "horse", "swine", etc.) should not be capitalized, unless it is a part of the breed name itself and is consistently presented that way in the breed standards (rare cases include [[Norwegian Forest Cat|{{xt|Norwegian Forest Cat}}]] and [[American Quarter Horse|{{xt|American Quarter Horse}}]]).

Create [[Wikipedia:Redirect|redirects]] from alternative capitalization and spelling forms of article titles, and from alternative names, e.g., [[Adélie Penguin]], [[Adelie penguin]], [[Adelie Penguin]] and ''[[Pygoscelis adeliae]]'' should all redirect to [[Adélie penguin]].