- UTILITY Names - Every species named in the database gets one unique name in the Latin script.
These consist of the species' Genus Name, an underscore, and one or more leading characters of the species' "trivial" name.
- TAG Names - Each named species adopts one Tag name from among its Vernacular names: otherwise, use its Utility Name.
Each name is selected from the best known Vernacular Names for the species. It is in Latin script, and one or more other scripts, yet to be decided. Choices will favour widely-used indigenous names from the species' home territory. As Tag names, these may be of most use outside the home range of their species.
All species names in Time-bands 2000 and 2010 have their Utility and Tag Names added to the database ready to go directly into your BioLists.
The program does not search for these formal names - they will be found as Genus and Vernacular Names respectively.
Utility and Tag Names cannot be keyed-in within BioLists. As with the informal Common Names, should never be italicised.
When creating a new BioList, you can elect to search on Common Names in one or two of the following languages. Your selected Common Names are searchable and available for adding to your BioLists where they can be edited.
L.45 - - Esperanto (New Zealand Birds)
L.51 - - British Isles English (includes freshwater species)
L.58 - - New Zealand English (many well known New Zealand and European species)
L.95 - - Maori (Polynesian) (NZ species) This may be seen as a model for applying Common Names in other languages.
L.98 & 99 - Canadian and European French (Whales & Dolphins)
L.104 - Italian (Whales & Dolphins)
L.105 - Species Name [the Genus+species binomen in Latin].
ALSO, all species-level names have their Species Name (binomen) as a "Common Name", as in the "Ecologic Format" option.
Species-level Scientific and their Common Names are present in the following Taxonomic Groups for the Time-band 2000 Classification.
Sundry temperate Flowering Plants - some aquatic and garden plants; Elm Trees.
Birds - most marine and water-related species; Pigeons.
Whales, Dolphins, Otters, Elephants, Dogs, Cats, Bears, Primates,...
Genus-level Names: As above, and:
All Flowering Plants
All Frogs; (almost) all Birds; some Mammal ORDERS
Higher levels:
All Family-level and ORDER-level Names:
NB: All Genus (and therefore species) names can be captured in BioLists by using their Family, (or ORDER).
Class | CLASS | Languages | Languge | Class | CLASS | Language | |||||
|
& SubClasses | Seq. No. |
|
Seq. No. | |||||||
UTILITY & TAG | 1 | | | UTILITY & TAG | 1 | |||||||
1 | AFRICAN | Amharic | 2 | | | 1 | AFRICAN | 2~9 | ||||
1 | Berber | 3 | | | 2 | ARABIC | 10~14 | |||||
1 | Hausa | 4 | | | 2 | HEBREW | 15 | |||||
1 | Igbo | 5 | | | 3 | AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES | 16~28 | |||||
1 | | | 3 | Austro.-INDONESIAN | 16~20 | |||||||
1 | Ndebele | 6 | | | 3 | Austro.-JAVANESE | 21~22 | |||||
1 | Shona | 7 | | | 3 | Other AUSTRONESIANS | 23~28 | |||||
1 | Swahili | 8 | | | 4 | CHINESE | 29~44 | |||||
1 | Yoruba | 9 | | | 4 | Other CHINESE | 37~44 | |||||
| | 5 | ESPERANTO | 45 | ||||||||
2 | ARABIC | Arabian Pen. Arabic | 10 | | | 6 | GERMANIC LANGUAGES | 46~67 | ||||
2 | Filipino Arabic | 11 | | | 6 | ARMENIAN | 46 | |||||
2 | Middle-Eastern Arabic | 12 | | | 6 | DUTCH | 48~47 | |||||
2 | North-African Arabic | 13 | | | 6 | ENGLISH | 49~60 | |||||
2 | Standard Arabic | 14 | | | 6 | GERMAN | 61~64 | |||||
2 | HEBREW | Hebrew | 15 | | | 6 | NORSE | 65~67 | ||||
| | 7 | INDIC LANGUAGES | 68~83 | ||||||||
3 | AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES | | | 7 | DRAVIDIAN | 68~71 | ||||||
3 | Austro.-INDONESIAN | Bacasan A.-Indonesian | 16 | | | 7 | INDO-ARYAN | 72~83 | ||||
3 | Batak Karo A.-Indonesian | 17 | | | 8 | IRANIAN LANGUAGES | 84~87 | |||||
3 | Javanese A.-Indonesian | 18 | | | 9 | JAPANESE | 88 | |||||
3 | Kakartan A.-Indonesian | 19 | | | 10 | KARTVELIAN | 89 | |||||
3 | Malayan A.-Indonesian | 20 | | | 11 | KOREAN | 90 | |||||
3 | Austro.-JAVANESE | Bamyumas A.-Javanese | 21 | | | 12 | MALAGASY | 91 | ||||
3 | A.-Javanese (Standard) | 22 | | | 13 | NAHUATL | 92 | |||||
3 | Other AUSTRONESIAN LANGUAGES | | | 14 | POLYNESIAN | 93~97 | ||||||
3 | Betawi Austronesian | 23 | | | 15 | ROMAN / ITALIC LANGUAGES | 98~114 | |||||
3 | Cebuano Austronesian | 24 | | | 15 | FRENCH | 98 | |||||
3 | Filipino/Tagalog Austron. | 25 | | | 15 | ITALIAN | 104 | |||||
3 | Malagasy Austronesian | 26 | | | 15 | LATIN | 105 | |||||
3 | Sundanese Austronesian | 27 | | | 15 | PORTUGUESE | 106 | |||||
3 | Tetum Austronesian | 28 | | | 15 | ROMANIAN | 110 | |||||
| | 15 | SPANISH | 111 | ||||||||
4 | CHINESE | Mandarin (Standard) | 29 | | | 16 | SLAVIC LANGUAGES | 115~123 | ||||
4 | Nothwestern Mandarin | 30 | | | 17 | THAI | 124 | |||||
4 | Northern Mandarin | 31 | | | 18 | HELLENIC | 125 | |||||
4 | Southwestern Mandarin | 32 | | | 19 | URALIAN | 129 | |||||
4 | Southern Mandarin | 33 | | | 20 | VIETNAMESE | 131 | |||||
4 | Southeastern Mandarin | 34 | | | ======== | ====== | ========================= | =============== | ||||
4 | Singaporean Mandarin | 35 | | | ||||||||
4 | Taiwanese Mandarin | 36 | | | Class-# | CLASSES | Sub-Class Refn. No. | |||||
4 | Other CHINESE | Cantonese/Pinghua | 37 | | | 2 | HEBREW | 15 | ||||
4 | Hakka Chinese | 38 | | | 3 | AUSTRONESIAN-INDONESIAN | 16 | |||||
4 | Jin (North-central) Chinese | 39 | | | 3 | AUSTRONESIAN-JAVANESE | 21 | |||||
4 | Min Chinese | 40 | | | 3 | AUSTRONESIAN - OTHER | 23 | |||||
4 | Putongua/Guoyo Chinese | 41 | | | 4 | CHINESE - CHINESE | 37 | |||||
4 | Taiwanese-Hokkien | 42 | | | 6 | ARMENIAN | 46 | |||||
4 | Wu (Shanghai) Chinese | 43 | | | 6 | DUTCH | 47 | |||||
4 | Yue Chinese | 44 | | | 6 | ENGLISH | 49 | |||||
| | 6 | GERMAN | 61 | ||||||||
5 | ESPERANTO | Esperanto | 45 | | | 6 | NORSE | 65 | ||||
| | 7 | DRAVIDIAN | 68 | ||||||||
6 | GERMANIC LANGUAGES | | | 7 | INDO-ARYAN | 72 | ||||||
6 | ARMENIAN | Armenian | 46 | | | 8 | IRANIAN | 85 | ||||
6 | DUTCH | Afrikaans | 47 | | | 15 | FRENCH | 98 | ||||
6 | Dutch | 48 | | | 15 | ITALIAN | 104 | |||||
6 | ENGLISH | Australian English | 49 | | | 15 | LATIN | 105 | ||||
6 | Brazilian English | 50 | | | 15 | PORTUGUESE | 106 | |||||
6 | British Isles English | 51 | | | 15 | ROMANIAN | 110 | |||||
6 | Canadian English | 52 | | | 15 | SPANISH | 111 | |||||
6 | Caribbean English | 53 | | | ======== | ====== | ========================= | =========== | ||||
6 | Indian English | 54 | | | Class | Sub-Classes in Alpha-Seq. | Sequence No. | |||||
6 | Malagasy English | 55 | | | 6 | ARMENIAN | 46 | |||||
6 | Malaysian English | 56 | | | 3 | AUSTRONESIAN-INDONESIAN | 16 | |||||
6 | New Guinean English | 57 | | | 3 | AUSTRONESIAN-JAVANESE | 21 | |||||
6 | New Zealand English | 58 | | | 3 | AUSTRONESIAN - OTHER | 23 | |||||
6 | South African English | 59 | | | 4 | CHINESE - OTHER | 37 | |||||
6 | United States English | 60 | | | 7 | DRAVIDIAN | 68 | |||||
6 | GERMAN | Austro-Bavarian German | 61 | | | 6 | DUTCH | 47 | ||||
6 | German (Standard) | 62 | | | 6 | ENGLISH | 49 | |||||
6 | Pennsylvanian German | 63 | | | 15 | FRENCH | 98 | |||||
6 | Swiss German | 64 | | | 6 | GERMAN | 61 | |||||
6 | NORSE | Danish | 65 | | | 2 | HEBREW | 15 | ||||
6 | Norwegian | 66 | | | 7 | INDO-ARYAN | 72 | |||||
6 | Swedish | 67 | | | 8 | IRANIAN | 85 | |||||
| | 15 | ITALIAN | 104 | ||||||||
7 | INDIC LANGUAGES | | | 15 | LATIN | 105 | ||||||
7 | DRAVIDIAN | Kannada | 68 | | | 6 | NORSE | 65 | ||||
7 | Malayalam | 69 | | | 15 | PORTUGUESE | 106 | |||||
7 | Tamil | 70 | | | 15 | ROMANIAN | 110 | |||||
7 | Telugu | 71 | | | 15 | SPANISH | 111 | |||||
7 | INDO-ARYAN | Assamese | 72 | ||||||||
7 | Bengali | 73 | |||||||||
7 | Gujarati | 74 | |||||||||
7 | Hindustani | 75 | |||||||||
7 | Kashmiri | 76 | |||||||||
7 | Maldivian | 77 | |||||||||
7 | Marathi | 78 | |||||||||
7 | Nepali | 79 | |||||||||
7 | Oriya | 80 | |||||||||
7 | Punjabi | 81 | |||||||||
7 | Sindhi | 82 | |||||||||
7 | Sinhala | 83 | |||||||||
8 | IRANIAN | Balochi | 84 | ||||||||
8 | Kurdish | 85 | |||||||||
8 | Pashto | 86 | |||||||||
8 | Persian | 87 | |||||||||
9 | JAPANESE | Japanese | 88 | ||||||||
10 | KARTVELIAN | Georgian | 89 | ||||||||
11 | KOREAN | Korean | 90 | ||||||||
12 | MALAGASY | Malagaso | 91 | ||||||||
13 | NAHUATL | Mexican | 92 | ||||||||
14 | POLYNESIAN | Fijian | 93 | ||||||||
14 | Hawaiian | 94 | |||||||||
14 | Maori | 95 | |||||||||
14 | Samoan | 96 | |||||||||
14 | Tongan | 97 | |||||||||
15 | ROMANCE LANGUAGES | ||||||||||
15 | FRENCH | Canadian French | 98 | ||||||||
15 | French (European) | 99 | |||||||||
15 | Haitian Creole | 100 | |||||||||
15 | Malagasy French | 101 | |||||||||
15 | North African French | 102 | |||||||||
15 | Sub-Saharan French | 103 | |||||||||
15 | ITALIAN | Italian | 104 | ||||||||
15 | LATIN | Scientific | 105 | ||||||||
15 | PORTUGUESE | Angolan Portuguese | 106 | ||||||||
15 | Brazilian Portuguese | 107 | |||||||||
15 | Mosambique Portuguese | 108 | |||||||||
15 | Portuguese (European) | 109 | |||||||||
15 | ROMANIAN | Romanian | 110 | ||||||||
15 | SPANISH | Andalusian Spanish | 111 | ||||||||
15 | Castilian (Standard) | 112 | |||||||||
15 | Catalonian Spanish | 113 | |||||||||
15 | Mexican Spanish | 114 | |||||||||
16 | SLAVIC LANGUAGES | ||||||||||
16 | Belarusian | 115 | |||||||||
16 | Bulgarian | 116 | |||||||||
16 | Czech | 117 | |||||||||
16 | Latvian | 118 | |||||||||
16 | Polish | 119 | |||||||||
16 | Russian (Standard) | 120 | |||||||||
16 | Serbo-Croatian | 121 | |||||||||
16 | Slavak | 122 | |||||||||
16 | Ukrainian | 123 | |||||||||
17 | THAI | Lao and Thai | 124 | ||||||||
18 | HELLENIC | Anatolian/Turkish | 125 | ||||||||
18 | Azerbaijani | 126 | |||||||||
18 | Greek | 127 | |||||||||
18 | Kazakh | 128 | |||||||||
19 | URALIAN | Finnish | 129 | ||||||||
19 | Hungarian | 130 | |||||||||
20 | VIETNAMESE | Vietnamese | 131 | ||||||||
END |
Each of the (Vernacular) languages listed above has been selected for scoring on three broad points:
- 1) it is spoken by a large number of people,
- 2) the Biodiversity Names are from an ecologically discrete region, and
- 3) the area is expected to contain endemic species.
In this way, use of a particular language will assemble regional Biodiversity lists relevant to localities even where actual spoken languages do not differ over a wider area. Our aim is to enable users to create one-stop, scientifically sound Biodiversity listings with local coherence. On the other hand, the unchanging Utility Names are able to relate names and lists from diverse regions.
Note that with three sets of Common Names being searchable, the system offers an effective translation service between users' choices of Language-2 and Language-3. Common names are always linked to their Scientific Names within a BioList Time-band classification which is a middle-of-the-road taxonomic Classification. Each species has a single, unique Utility and a single, unique Tag (Common) Names that can assist conservation by contributing to taxonomic stability.
In BioLists, Common Names stay back from the cutting-edge of the science where newly published taxonomies are hypotheses in need of testing and general acceptance by way of scientific publication This can easily take a year. Peer-review follows first publication of "new species" or of a new combination (of Genus + trivial name), or of a new (evolutionary) sequence within a Classification. Follow-up publications (which may require new research to be conducted) then either validate the new names or the new understanding that prompted the change of sequence; otherwise they reject or modify the proposal - or a debate ensues. Once agreement is apparent, new names are then, and only then, suitable for general use. At BioLists, we wait for such acceptance hoping not to add to any confusion.
Contributions of Common Names are welcomed here at BioLists. We especially need well-researched lists of from hard-copy publications or top-class websites with dated references. Please send long lists of common names in various Languages. Ideally, such lists should comprise all species in a Genus or small Family. But the other top priority right now is for strings of Genera within Families that are presently vacant. The lists should be created as a BioList; then forward the full BioList as a CSV file. To avoid overlap with other contributors, please register your interest with us at the start of your project.