Animals by Scientific Name: A Complete List

Animals, and all living creatures that have been identified and documented are given a two part scientific name that is specific to that species. The animal scientific name format consists first of the genus, followed by a species specific epithet. This is how all living animals are scientifically classified.

How To Write A Scientific Name

Scientific names, also known as ‘scientific nomenclature’ are binomial phrases that consist of combining a genus and species specific word. The genus is always capitalized while the species-specific epithet is written lower case. this same format is used for both plants and animals. Every known species and plant has a unique two part scientific name

Some examples of this format for scientific names include:

Animal Name	Genus	Epithet	Scientific Name
Human	Homo	Sapien	Homo sapien
Wolf	Canis	Lupus	Canis lupus
Lion	Panthera	Leo	Panthera leo

Who developed the system for scientific names?

Animal scientific name classification was developed by Swedish botanist Carolus (Carl) Linnaeus in the 1700’s. His process of combining the genus and a species specific epithet is known as the The Linnaeus Method or Linnaean Taxonomy.

What is are examples trinomen and trinomina scientific names?

In zoological classification, trinomen names are three word names for sub-species of a certain animal group. Trinomina is the plural of trinomen. For example, the zoological name for tigers is: Panthera tigris, while the zoological name for the subspecies Bengal Tiger is Panthera tigris tigris.

See a complete list of animals and their scientific names listed by letter below.