Longest and shortest names

General remarks

Recommendation 6 (1) of the ICNP (2008 Revision) states the following: "Avoid names or epithets that are very long or difficult to pronounce". In spite of Recommendation 6 there are some long monomials and epithets. The longest and shortest names validly published under the ICNP are listed below, assorted by their taxonomic category. Epithets of species and subspecies are treated separately. In the case of species names the count of characters includes the space; in the case of subspecies names the count of characters includes the spaces and the subspecies indication. Other things being equal, taxonomists are advised to propose names and epithets whose length is as close as possible to the modes (the most frequent values) of the lengths listed below for each category.

See also the LPSN introductory page on forming names.

Class

Longest: Epsilonproteobacteria — Methanonatronarchaeia — Thermodesulfobacteria (21 characters)

Shortest: Bacilli (7 characters)

Average: 13.57 characters

Median: 13.00 characters

Mode: 13 characters (lower), 13 characters (upper)

Family

Longest: Desulfonatronovibrionaceae (26 characters)

Shortest: Orbaceae (8 characters)

Average: 16.16 characters

Median: 16.00 characters

Mode: 16 characters (lower), 16 characters (upper)

Genus

Longest: Paratractidigestivibacter — Sphingosinithalassobacter (25 characters)

Shortest: Baia — Puia (4 characters)

Average: 12.58 characters

Median: 12.00 characters

Mode: 13 characters (lower), 13 characters (upper)

Order

Longest: Thermodesulfobacteriales — Thermosediminibacterales (24 characters)

Shortest: Orbales (7 characters)

Average: 15.03 characters

Median: 15.00 characters

Mode: 15 characters (lower), 15 characters (upper)

Species

Longest: Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum (43 characters)

Shortest: Baia soyae (10 characters)

Average: 22.88 characters

Median: 23.00 characters

Mode: 23 characters (lower), 23 characters (upper)

Species epithet

Longest: Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum (26 characters)

Shortest: Cellulomonas uda — Lactobacillus uli — Olsenella uli — Pseudoxanthomonas gei — Rhizobium gei — Sphingomonas gei (3 characters)

Average: 9.71 characters

Median: 10.00 characters

Mode: 9 characters (lower), 9 characters (upper)

Subclass

Longest: Anoxyphotobacteriae (19 characters)

Shortest: Acidimicrobidae — Coriobacteridae — Rubrobacteridae (15 characters)

Average: 16.29 characters

Median: 16.00 characters

Mode: 15 characters (lower), 15 characters (upper)

Subgenus

Longest: Gluconoacetobacter (18 characters)

Shortest: Acetobacter (11 characters)

Average: 14.50 characters

Median: 14.50 characters

Mode: 11 characters (lower), 18 characters (upper)

Suborder

Longest: Actinopolysporineae — Propionibacterineae — Streptosporangineae (19 characters)

Shortest: Frankineae (10 characters)

Average: 15.59 characters

Median: 16.00 characters

Mode: 14 characters (lower), 17 characters (upper)

Subspecies

Longest: Methylobacterium dichloromethanicum subsp. dichloromethanicum (61 characters)

Shortest: Winkia neuii subsp. neuii (25 characters)

Average: 40.46 characters

Median: 40.00 characters

Mode: 40 characters (lower), 40 characters (upper)

Subspecies epithet

Longest: Geobacillus thermodenitrificans subsp. thermodenitrificans (19 characters)

Shortest: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. suis — Campylobacter lari subsp. lari — Clavibacter xyli subsp. xyli — Lactobacillus yamanashiensis subsp. mali — Leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli — Limosilactobacillus reuteri subsp. suis — Nocardiopsis alba subsp. alba corrig. — Streptococcus equi subsp. equi — Streptococcus infantarius subsp. coli (4 characters)

Average: 9.67 characters

Median: 9.00 characters

Mode: 8 characters (lower), 8 characters (upper)

Tribe

Longest: Chromobacterieae (16 characters)

Shortest: Proteeae (8 characters)

Average: 12.17 characters

Median: 12.00 characters

Mode: 12 characters (lower), 12 characters (upper)