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APPENDIX 4
SCIENTIFIC NAMES

The scientific name of a mammal as here used consists of two latinized words followed by the name of a person and a year. The first word designates the genus to which the animal is assigned, the second is the name of the species, the third is the name of the authority for the specific epithet (species name), and the year indicates the year of published description of the name. If the person's name and the year are enclosed in parentheses, it indicates that he or she described the species under a generic name different from that in current use. For example, when Linnaeus described our mole in 1758 and gave it the specific name aquaticus, he placed it in the genus Sorex. We now reserve the genus Sorex for a certain group of shrews and place the Texas moles in the genus Scalopus. Consequently, the scientific name of Texas moles is written Scalopus aquaticus (Linnaeus 1758). On the other hand, when he described our fox squirrel in 1758 and gave it the specific epithet niger, he placed it in the genus Sciurus. We currently accept that arrangement, so the scientific name of the eastern fox squirrel appears as Sciurus niger Linnaeus 1758—the parentheses are omitted.

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From The Mammals of Texas, Seventh Edition by David J. Schmidly and Robert D. Bradley, copyright © 1994, 2004, 2016.  Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.

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