Further to my previous expressions on the subject, i recently added the following to another user's talk page. The Style Manual for Biological Journals as "Prepared by the Committee on Form and Style of the Conference of Biological Editors of the American Institute of Biological Sciences" states at page 68, "Generic names used as vernacular names are neither italicized nor capitalized" Since an other authoritative source has indicated that capitalization is usually done among ornithologists (though it is not a rule) I will leave birds alone ... for now. What exactly does that mean. "Generic names" - doesn't that mean "names of a genus". So, for instance, if you use the generic name Gorilla as the common name, "gorilla", you don't have to capitalize it. It seems to me that while in a normal sentence, the word "gorilla" should not be capitalized, it ought to be capitalized when it is referring to the species as a whole. And that your reference doesn't seem to be referring to what you think it is referring to. A rereading of the item that I quoted does give some support for your interpretation. The sentence is repeated on the next page with the single change of "vernacular" to "common".(I've since won another much thicker book about writing style in biology, but it might not get to me for another couple weeks.) The Latin species name is never capitalized anyway. Capitals and single quotes are used, however, for cultivars. This may give support for a similar practice for dog breeds, but I'm not yet ready to take a stand on that. A little later the book gives examples and particular rules relating to insects, plants and bacteria. For birds it refers us to the American Ornithologists Union's check-list of North American birds, but gives no examples. It is silent about mammals and other vertebrates. The Globe and Mail Style Book directs lower case for all animals, including birds, except when what would otherwise be a common name is involved. It is more direct than most general style manuals when dealing with this, and that gives some weight when we are concerned with a work of general knowledge such as Wikipedia. The other point that favors lower case is the general rule in titles to lower case all words unless there is a good reason to the contrary. The next source is an online one at http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/courses.hp/biol335/Lecture8-9.html I quote * capitalization: * unless the common name includes a proper name (e.g., person's name or place name), most common names are not capitalized * however, there are exceptions for certain groups of organisms. One obvious exception is that the common names of birds are now usually capitalized * e.g. white-tailed deer vs Atlantic salmon vs Richardson's ground squirrel vs Great Horned Owl vs Englemann spruce vs balsam poplar vs Rocky Mountain juniper * for vertebrates and probably other groups of organisms, there are international committees that recommend on common names in each language * e.g. the sparrow hawk is now the American Kestrel Note the word "usually" in regards to birds. The practice follows the American Ornithologists Union but is by no means universal. I am at least prepared to concede the matter in regards to capitalizing bird names, in the absence of further evidence. There is no such list for mammals, and apparently none for other vertebrates, but I have not explored these others. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game Writer's Guide at http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/download/adfguide/wrtrguid.pdf supports lower case for all species, including birds where it does note that its view is contrary to that of the Ornithological Union. From the publication The Prairie Naturalist at http://www.fhsu.edu/biology/pn/pnstylerules.htm we have "Common names of organisms are not capitalized except for proper nouns or adjectives that are part of the name, e.g., green-winged teal, American coot, Cooper's hawk." The Newsletter of the Baltimore Bird Club at http://baltimorebirdclub.org/cn/cn0010.html states, "Many birding publications follow an unofficial convention for capitalization of bird names. I have chosen to follow this convention in Chip Notes because it makes the name stand out and it honors the objects of our devotion. If you would follow these "rules" in your submissions it would save a lot of time. The "rules" run something like this: * All non-hyphenated parts of a bird's name are capitalized. * The hyphenated parts that are a type of bird are also capitalized. * The hyphenated parts that are NOT themselves a type of bird, such as "-bellied" or "-tailed," are not capitalized. A good illustration of all these principles is "Yellow-crowned Night-Heron." Based on all of the above I reach the conclusion that all common names of life forms should be lower cased, with the possible exception of birds. Eclecticology