Wikipedia:WikiProject Animals/Draft capitalization guidelines

{{superseded|Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms}}

Please feel free to modify anything on this page

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Purpose of this draft proposal:

  • To clarify and confirm existing uncontroversial guidelines and conventions, and present them in a "quick-reference" table format, for inclusion into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(fauna)#Capitalisation_of_common_names_of_species the guidelines for the capitalization of common names of species] in order to:

:a) help prevent multiple page moves of existing articles;

:b) help ensure new articles are properly named when created

  • To possibly agree upon new conventions currently unresolved.

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Proposed additions/clarifications to guidelines:

  • Common names of animal species are written either in title case or sentence case depending upon the taxonomic group (shown below).

:*In title case, the first letter of every important word is capitalized (e.g., Grey Currawong, Duke of Burgundy), except for words that follow a hyphen (e.g., Brown-headed Spider Monkey).

:*In sentence case, no capital letters are used (e.g., brown bear, ray-finned shark), except for proper names (e.g., North American beaver, Roosevelt's elk).

  • Names of higher categories of animals are always written in sentence case (e.g., kangaroo rat, river martin).
  • Individual articles should be consistent in using either title or sentence case for common names. If an article on an animal species uses title-case title, all species mentioned in the text should have their name in title case.

= WikiProject examples =

class="wikitable" style="width: 100%; height: 200px" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"

! width=10% | Animal type

! width=5% | Case to use

! width=15% | Example article title

! width=20% | Usage in prose

! width=10% | Current status
of non-group
articles

! width=10% | Capitalisation
of groups* according to WP:Fauna name "The common name of a group of species, or an individual creature of indeterminate species, is not capitalised."

! width=15% | Group use in prose

! width=22% | Remarks/exceptions

! width=3% |

Mammals

| Sentence

| Polar bear

| The polar bear is a bear.

| Mixed

| Sentence

|

| Per naming conventions as WP Mammals doesn't have project specific guidelines.

|

Primates

| Sentence

| Ring-tailed lemur

| The ring-tailed lemur is a primate.

| Mixed – converting to lower

| Sentence

| ruffed lemur

|

|

Cetaceans

| Sentence

| Pygmy blue whale

| The pygmy blue whale is a whale.

| Mainly sentence

| Sentence

| blue whale

|

|

Rodents

| Sentence

| Guinea pig

| The guinea pig is a species of rodent.

| Mixed

| Sentence

| mouse

|

|

rowspan="2" | Birds

| Upper

| Bald Eagle

| A Bald Eagle is a bird.

| Actively upper

| Sentence

| thick-billed parrot
bluebird

| Lower case should be used in contexts outside of ornithology

|

Upper

| Palawan Peacock-Pheasant

| A Palawan Peacock-Pheasant is a bird.

|

| Sentence

|

| see Talk:Palawan Peacock-Pheasant

|

Insects

| Sentence

| Red imported fire ant

| The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is one of over 280 species ...

| 100% sentence

| Sentence

| rove beetle

| Lepidoptera and Odonata species may be capitalised

|

Butterflies and moths

| Mixed

| Gypsy moth

| The gypsy moth is a moth.

| More upper

| Sentence

| skipper

| Ditto

|

Fishes

| Sentence

| Ocean sunfish

| The ocean sunfish is a fish.

| Mainly sentence

| Sentence

| catfish

| Project guideline

|

Sharks

| Sentence

| Oceanic whitetip shark

| The oceanic whitetip shark is a shark.

| 100% sentence

| Sentence

| bullhead shark

|

|

Amphibians and reptiles

| Sentence

| Komodo dragon

| The Komodo dragon is a reptile.

| Mixed

| Sentence

| poison dart frog

|

|

Turtles

| Sentence

| Loggerhead sea turtle

| The loggerhead sea turtle[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00EEDA1731F934A1575AC0A9619C8B63 prose use in New York Times] is a turtle.

| 100% sentence

| Sentence

| sea turtle

|

|

Arthropods

| Sentence

| American lobster

| American lobsters are usually bluish green to brown.

| 100% sentence

| Sentence

| lobster

| Few common name articles

|

Spiders

| Sentence

| Katipo

| A bite from the katipo produces a toxic syndrome.

| 100% sentence

| Sentence

| orb-weaver spider

|

|

Cephalopods

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

Gastropods

| Sentence

| Lightning whelk

| The lightning whelk is a large edible sea snail.

| Mostly sentence

| Sentence

| door snail

|

|

Addendum - breeds

class="wikitable" style="width: 100%; height: 200px" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"

! width=10% | Animal type

! width=5% | Case to use

! width=15% | Example article title

! width=20% | Usage in prose

! width=10% | Current status
of non-group
articles

! width=10% | Capitalisation
of groups

! width=15% | Group use in prose

! width=22% | Remarks/exceptions

! width=3% |

Dogs

| Upper

| Beagle

| A Beagle is a dog.

| Actively upper

| -

| -

| Guidelines not followed

|

Equine

| Upper

| American Quarter Horse

| The American Quarter Horse is a breed of horse.

| Actively upper

| -

| -

| Distinction between breed and type often must be determined on a case-by-case basis

|

=See also=

References

{{reflist}}