Tautonym

From Freepedia

Tautonym is a term in biological nomenclature, differing slightly in zoological and in botanical nomenclature. For zoological usage see tautonymy.

In botany the term "tautonymy" is not used, but "tautonym" is. A second difference is that in the ICBN tautonyms apply only at the level of species. A third and more important difference is that tautonyms are not allowed in the ICBN (Art 23.4).

An example of a botanical tautonym is Larix larix (L.) H.Karst (1881). The earliest name for the European larch is Pinus larix L. (1753) but Karsten did not agree with the placement of the species in Pinus and decided to move it to Larix. In making this new combination he created a tautonym, not acceptable under the rules (1906 onwards; the rules are retroactive). In such a case either the next earliest validly published name must be found, in this case Larix decidua Mill. (1768), or (in its absence) a new epithet must be published.

However, it is allowed for the genus name and species epithet to mean the same, without being identical in spelling. For instance, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi means bearberry twice, in Greek and Latin respectively. There are also instances of a repeat of the genus name with a slight modification, such as Polypodium polypodioides, the resurrection fern, which means "a polypodium that is like a polypodium". Differences as small as a single letter are permissible, as in the Jujube shrub, Ziziphus zizyphus.