Re: What is the difference in scientific names between breeds of dogs or cats?

Hello Connie,

I am afraid that there is no official scientific nomenclature which deals with different breeds of, for example cats and dogs. This is because the scientific terms only go down as far as the species level, which in classical zoological terms is defined as either:
Groups of populations (which are groups of individuals living together that are separated from other such groups) which can potentially interbreed or are actually interbreeding, that can successfully produce viable, fertile offspring (without the help of human technology). [Ernst Mayr, 1969] The species is the most fundamental unit of evolution and is the most specific taxonomic level. A species consists of different subspecies, or breeds, of an organism which despite being adapted to slightly different environments and/or having distinctly different appearances and behaviors, can still successfully interbreed. or: A category of biological classification ranking immediately below the genus or subgenus, comprising related organisms or populations potentially capable of interbreeding, and being designated by a binomial that consists of the name of a genus followed by a Latin or latinized uncapitalized noun or adjective agreeing grammatically with the genus name.

Thus anything that can produce viable offspring without artificial help is a member of the same species. Breeds however, are defined as "Animals that, through selection and breeding, have come to resemble one another and pass those traits uniformly to their offspring". There is more information about agricultural animal breeds at http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/. But scientists don't always know whether two organisms are the same species and sometimes, particularly if there is a very odd breed (which has come about naturally) this is defined by using the suffix var. (for variety). The scientific names are now coordinated and managed by The International Committee on Bionomenclature (ICB) http://www.rom.on.ca/biodiversity/biocode/bioicb1997.html which has developed a set of rules for naming new species http://www.rom.on.ca/biodiversity/biocode/biocode1997.html.

However, one species which has many carefully defined breeds (for research purposes) is the mouse. Information on different mouse breeds (called inbred strains) and their nomenclature can be found at http://www.informatics.jax.org/support/nomen/strains.shtml#Inbred.

So, just to try and clarify this for you; dogs and cats are two species, scientifically named: Canis familiaris (dog) and Felis catus (cat). Some of the different, but related species of the dog genus are: Canis adustus (side-striped jackal) Canis aureus (golden jackal) Canis familiaris (dog) Canis latrans (coyote) Canis lupus (gray wolf) Canis mesomelas (black-backed jackal) Canis rufus (red wolf) Canis simensis (Ethiopian wolf). A name showing the variety is sometimes used for the domestic chicken "Gallus gallus var domesticus", but this is not an approved format and in scientific papers it is more usual to state the species and then describe the breed eg Canis familiaris (border collie). There are also searchable lists of approved taxonomy available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Taxonomy/wgetorg?lvl=3&prot=0&nucl=0&stru ct=0

I hope that this is of some help.

Cheers,
Hes