Naming of organisms

Occasionally, we will refer to lifeforms in an article or case, and we adhere to standard scientific convention when it comes to naming organisms. as set down by the International Commision on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) ¹. As per the standard binomial system, the genus and species of the organism are stated, and both should be italicized. The genus should also be capitalized and if abbreviated, be followed by a full stop (period). The species name is not capitalized:

• Escherichia coli
• E. coli

However higher ranks, e.g. orders and families, of species are not italicized, but are capitalized e.g. Wuchereria bancrofti, is from the genus Wuchereria, but from the taxonomic family Onchocercidae.