In biology, within the science of
scientific nomenclature
Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal conventions of everyday speech to the internationally agre ...
, i.e. the naming of
organism
In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and ...
s, an orthographical variant (abbreviated orth. var.) in
botany
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...
or an orthographic error in
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
, is a spelling mistake, typing mistake or writing mistake within a scientific publication that resulted in a somewhat different name being accidentally used for an already-named organism. The rules that govern what to do when this happens are laid out in the relevant codes of nomenclature.
In botanical names
In
botanical nomenclature, an orthographical variant (abbreviated orth. var.) is a variant spelling of the same name. For example, ''Hieronima'' and ''Hyeronima'' are orthographical variants of ''
Hieronyma''. One of the spellings must be treated as the
correct one.
ICBN
The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...
Vienna Code
(2006), Article 61 In this case, the spelling ''Hieronyma'' has been
conserved and is to be used as the correct spelling.
An inadvertent use of one of the other spellings has no consequence: the name is to be treated as if it were correctly spelled. Any subsequent use is to be corrected.
Orthographical variants are treated in Art 61 of the ''
ICBN
The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all those "trad ...
''.
In zoological names
In
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
, "orthographical variants" in the formal sense do not exist; a misspelling or orthographic error is treated as a ''
lapsus
In philology, a lapsus (Latin for "lapse, slip, error") is an involuntary mistake made while writing or speaking.
Investigations
In 1895 an investigation into verbal slips was undertaken by a philologist and a psychologist, Rudolf Meringer and ...
'', a form of inadvertent error. The
first reviser is allowed to choose one variant for mandatory further use, but in other ways, these errors generally have no further formal standing. Inadvertent misspellings are treated in Art. 32-33 of the ''
ICZN''.
References
{{reflist
Botanical nomenclature
Zoological nomenclature