What Does Spp Mean?

[penguinpimp1990]

When talking about scientific names and you see something like Brachygobius spp does the spp mean that it is referring to all Brachygobius species?

 

[4ftguppy]

When talking about scientific names and you see something like Brachygobius spp does the spp mean that it is referring to all Brachygobius species?

well, not necessarily all, just multiple species of that genus

 

[nmonks]

Exactly. A few more of the ones used by scientists are:

Brachygobius sp. = A species of Brachigobius, but I didn't or couldn't find out which
Brachygobius sp. indet. = Literally, species indeterminate, i.e., the specimen as too damaged or too young to identify to species level
Brachgobius sp. aff. xanthozona = From the Latin "affinis", meaning, a species of Brachygobius related to xanthozona, but distinct from it, so likely a different species
Brachgobius sp. cf. xanthozona = From the Latin "confer", meaning a species of Brachgobius comparable to, and probably identical with, xanthozona, but I'm unable to confirm that

Note that all these words (sp., spp., cf., and aff.) are ALWAYS written in lower case and never italicized.

Cheers,

Neale

well, not necessarily all, just multiple species of that genus

 

[BigC]

sub-species.

 

[nmonks]

No -- spp does NOT mean this. Spp is the plural of sp, i.e., species. Sub-species is normally abbreviated to "subsp.".

Trust me on this -- I did my PhD at the Natural History Museum in London on the systematics of ammonites. I've named a dozen or so species, and coined a few new genera as well. While I'm far from an expert on fish, the rules are standardised across animals of all types, living and fossil by a group called the ICZN.

Cheers,

Neale

sub-species.