This guideline describes the conventions for the naming of articles on fauna, that is, animals.

Its advice also applies to protists, when appropriate, though instructions provided by WP:Naming conventions (flora) are sometimes more applicable, especially when the article uses the scientific name.

The article title should usually consist of the common (vernacular) name that is most common in English, following WP:Article titles#Common names:

• Cheetah, Eastern newt, Giraffe, Koala, Yak. Exceptions are detailed below. (See #Capitalisation and italicisation below for upper/lower case guidelines).

Use the singular form, including for groups or types of animals, following WP:Naming conventions (plurals): Beetle not Beetles (the latter redirects to the former). (See #Capitalisation and italicisation below for upper/lower case guidelines).

Do not use vernacular names when it is not clear to what the name refers. The name sardine is used for many different species of small, oily fishes; the appropriate things to do are to write an article describing the attributes the species have in common under that name, and create separate articles for each genus. However, when there is a clear core meaning for the common name, with other meanings by analogy, then it is okay to use the common name for the "true" group:

• Many elongated fishes are known as "eels", but "true eels" are in the order Anguilliformes, so it's appropriate to place them at the article name "Eel", with the others listed at Eel (disambiguation).

When what is the most common name in English, or the veracity of that most common name, is so disputed in reliable sources that it cannot be neutrally ascertained, prefer the common name most used (orthography aside) by international zoological nomenclature authorities over regional ones. When there is no common name or no consensus can be reached on the most common name, or if it isn't clear what taxon the common name refers to (as in the sardine example above), use the scientific name:

• Eulimella torquata was first described in 2011, and has no common name.
• Drosophila melanogaster has no common name other than "fruit fly", which it shares with other species.
• Fish in Sciaenidae are in some cases known as "drums", but drum is used for the musical instrument.

A monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group which only contains a single subgroup (e.g., a genus with only one known species, even a subphylum with one family with one genus). In such a case, the ranks with identical member organisms should not be separated into different articles, and the article (if there is no common name) should go under the scientific name of lowest rank, but no lower than the monotypic genus. Redirects should be created from the other ranks to the actual article.

• The species epithet Myrmecobius fasciatus and it monotypic genus Myrmecobius both redirects to the article at the common name of the species, Numbat.
• The two-species genus Xenoturbella has redirects from the monotypic family Xenoturbellidae and subphylum Xenoturbellida.
• The genus Nodocephalosaurus has a redirect from its sole species, Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis.
• The family Amphionidacea, redirects to its single genus Amphionides, as does the sole species Amphionides reynaudii.

The article title and content should match on the organism/group name. Redirects should be made to the article from other names for it (and spelling, capitalization, etc., variants), as well as from any lower taxa or other subtopics that do not have their own articles.

Make redirects from alternative common names:

• Red-spotted newt → Eastern newt

Make redirects from scientific names:

• Notophthalmus viridescens redirects to Eastern newt
• Coleoptera redirects to Beetle
• Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis redirects to Nodocephalosaurus

There may be several scientific names that need to be redirected:

• Both Myrmecobius fasciatus and Myrmecobius redirects to Numbat (since there is only one species in the genus)
• Both Xenoturbellida and Xenoturbellidae redirects to Xenoturbella (since there is only one described genus in the phylum)

Make redirects from alternative capitalisations (many guidebooks and specialist literature in various zoological fields tend to capitalise, so we must account for both usages):

• Eastern Newt redirects to Eastern newt

Make redirects from English forms of scientific names:

• Xenoturbellid redirects to Xenoturbella
• Nodocephalosaur redirects to Nodocephalosaurus

Capitalisation of article titles follows general Manual of Style guidance on the use of capital letters.

Common (vernacular) names

Articles whose titles are the common (vernacular) names of animals are titled in sentence case—for example, Przewalski's horse, Black bear. Where a vernacular name contains a proper name, that is also capitalised—for example, Small Indian civet. Common names are never italicised.

Create redirects to species (or subspecies) articles from any alternative capitalisation. For example, given an article Bald eagle, create a redirect to it from Bald Eagle. Many field guides capitalise, and most other sorts of writing do not, so we should account for both styles. There may be some rare instances where lower case and capitalised versions have different meanings; suitable links or disambiguation should then be used.

The common name of a group of species, or an individual creature of indeterminate species, is not capitalised beyond the first word in article titles (except where a proper name occurs): Bottlenose dolphin, New World monkey, Rove beetle, Slime mold.

Scientific names

The first part of a binomial species name, the genus, is capitalized. The second part, the species, is never capitalised (even when derived from a proper name): Ninox novaeseelandiae versus Ninox Novaeseelandiae. The same applies to the third part of a trinomial name, as in Canis lupus arctos.

Because scientific names are always italicised, per WP:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Italic face, when the article title is a genus or lower-ranked taxonomic name (e.g. species or subspecies), the page title should also be italicised.

There are three ways to accomplish this:

• {{Italic title}} added to a page will render its title in italic, except any word in parentheses, e.g.:

Ninox

Morelia (genus).

• {{DISPLAYTITLE}} can be used for titles that require manual formatting, e.g.

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ninox'' cf. ''novaeseelandiae''}}

result:

Ninox cf. novaeseelandiae

• Using one of the display templates of the automatic taxobox system, such as {{automatic taxobox}} or {{speciesbox}}, in most cases will automatically italicise the title if it matches the taxon name and the taxon is genus-level or lower.

This naming conventions guideline does not address prose usage.

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (capital letters)#Animals, plants, and other organisms
• Wikipedia:Naming conventions (flora)
• WikiProject Animals
• WikiProject Tree of Life
• Binomial nomenclature
• Trinomial nomenclature