Question

Which one of the following organisms is scientifically correctly named, correctly printed according to the International Rules of Nomenclature and is correctly described?

• A. Musca domestica - The common house lizard, a reptile
• B. Plasmodium falciparum - A protozoan pathogen causing the most serious type of malaria
• C. felis tigris - The Indian tiger, well protected in Gir forests
• D. E. Coli - Full name Escherichia coli a commonly occurring bacterium in human intestine.

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Plasmodium falciparum - A protozoan pathogen causing the most serious type of malaria

As per the International Rules of Nomenclature, the scientific name consists of two parts, genus and species. Both genus and species are either italicized or are underlined. In genus, the first letter is capital whereas species name is always written in lower case letters. Musca domestica is the common house fly. In option A, the scientific name is not italicized. Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan pathogen causing the most serious type of malaria. Felis tigris is the scientific name of Indian tiger. In option C, the first letter of genus Felis is not written in capital letter. Escherichia coli is the full name of E. coli. It commonly occurs in the human intestine.

Thus, the correct answer is option B.