bionym

plural bionyms

1. The proper name of a living being.

   Our starting point is the bionym, the name forming part of a specialised vocabulary which classifies plants or animals. How does one decide on the number of nomials in a given bionym, so that it is called a uni-, bi- or trinomial?

   1991, K.J. Hollyman, “What’s in a Nomial? Folk Classification in New Caledonia”, in Andrew Pawley, editor, Man and a Half: Essays in Pacific Anthropology and Ethnobiology in Honour of Ralph Bulmer, Auckland: The Polynesian Society, →ISBN, Ethnobiology, Semantics and Taxonomy (section II), page 114

   Antonyms: abionym

2. A name derived from a habitat or an environmental characteristic.

   Its name is a bionym combined with a taxonym. The first element of the name, the bionym, references the bird's habitat, which is the Chaco Plain,[…].

   2022, Susan Myers, “Chaco-Finch”, in The Bird Name Book: A History of English Bird Names, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 76