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a-, an-: Pronunciation: /ə/, /a/, /ən/, /an/. Origin: Ancient Greek: ἀ-, ἀν-(a, an-). Meaning: a prefix used to make words with a sense opposite to that of the root word; in this case, meaning "without" or "-less". This is usually used to describe organisms without a certain characteristic, as well as organisms in which that ...
The following pronunciation respelling key is used in some Wikipedia articles to respell the pronunciations of English words. It does not use special symbols or diacritics apart from the schwa (ə), which is used for the first sound in the word "about". See documentation for {} for examples and instructions on using the template.
It is helpful to be able to understand the source of scientific names. Although the Latin names do not always correspond to the current English common names, they are often related, and if their meanings are understood, they are easier to recall. The binomial name often reflects limited knowledge or hearsay about a species at the time it was named.
Binomial nomenclature for species has the effect that when a species is moved from one genus to another, sometimes the specific name or epithet must be changed as well. This may happen because the specific name is already used in the new genus, or to agree in gender with the new genus if the specific epithet is an adjective modifying the genus ...
Normally, pronunciation is given only for the subject of the article in its lead section. For non-English words and names, use the pronunciation key for the appropriate language. If a common English rendering of the non-English name exists (Venice, Nikita Khrushchev), its pronunciation, if necessary, should be indicated before the non-English one.
The specific epithet of the ant, clavata, means "club-shaped". [2] The generic name, Paraponera, translates to "near-Ponera". [3] Because of its fearsome reputation, the ant has several Native American, Spanish, and Portuguese local names in different geographical areas; perhaps the best-known of these is the Venezuelan nickname hormiga veinticuatro (the "24 ant" or "24-hour ant"), referring ...
a multiplication sign "×" placed before the name of an intergeneric hybrid or before the epithet of a species hybrid. An intervening space is optional. e.g.: × Sorbaronia or ×Sorbaronia is the name of hybrids between the genera Sorbus and Aronia, Iris × germanica or Iris ×germanica is a species derived by hybrid speciation
In Latin, specie is the ablative singular form, while species is the nominative form, which happens to be the same in both singular and plural. In English, species behaves similarly—as a noun with identical singular and plural—while specie is treated as a mass noun, referring to money in the form of coins (the idea is of "[payment] in kind ...