24 International Code of Nomenclature 



Rule 4. Chapter 3. Sect. 1. Naming of Taxa 



RULE 4. Names of taxonomic groups between subclass and genus have suf- 

 fixes to fix the taxonomic rank. The suffix for orders is -ales, for suborders 

 -ineoe, for families -oceoe, for subfamilies -oideoe, for tribes -eae and for 

 subtribes -inoe. 



ANNOTATIONS 



Rule 4. The suffixes specified in the Bacteriological Code for forma- 

 tion of names of higher taxa between subclass and genus and those 

 authorized by the Botanical Code are identical. The Zoological Code 

 specifies two suffixes only: all family names must end in -idae and 

 subfamily names in -inae. No endings to be used for other higher 

 taxa have been officially recognized. 



The suffixes used in both Bacteriological and Botanical Codes 

 are all plural feminine adjective endings. The singular forms of 

 these suffixes are -alls, -inea, -oidea, -ea and -ina. The suffix oidea is de- 

 rived from the Greek, -ina may be either a Greek or a Latin suffix, 

 the others are Latin adjectival suffixes. All as here used have the 

 connotation of "like" or "resembling" or "having the characteristics 

 of." These endings are in the feminine plural as they in theory 

 modify the plural Latin noun Plant ae. The family name Spirillaceae 

 literally has the meaning of "spirillaceous plants," that is, plants 

 (organisms) resembling those of the genus SpiriUit7n. However, in 

 modern nomenclature the names of taxa above genus are treated as 

 plural substantives (nouns) and not as adjectives. Further discus- 

 sion of the formation of names of higher taxa will be found in the 

 annotations in Section 7 under "Orthography and Gender of Names" 

 (p. 99ff .) . 



Occasionally (rarely) one finds the name of one of the higher 

 taxa used in the singular. One may, for example, designate an or- 

 ganism as a Spirillacea meaning that it is one of the species belong- 

 ing to the family Spirillaceae. This is done not infrequently in 

 Botany; the phrases "this is a Rosacea" or "a new Rosacea" are briefer 

 than "this belongs to the Rosaceae" or "a new species of Rosaceae." 

 Apparently this usage has been confined almost entirely to the singu- 

 lar of family names; however, such use of a family name in the 

 singular is rare in microbiology. 



Authors sometimes change the spelling of names of higher taxa 

 to conform to the characteristic of the vernacular in which they write. 

 In French the family name Spirillaceae may change from its Latin 

 form to Spirillacees and in German to Spirillaceen (or more fre- 

 quently to Spirillazeen) . Trevisan used as a title for an important 

 taxonomic brochure "I generi e le specie delle Batteriacee." Billet 

 used the phrase "d'une nouvelle bacteriacee marine." This is not 



