In zoology, a trinomen, or trinominal name, refers to the name of a subspecies. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a set of rules in zoology that have one fundamental aim: to provide the maximum universality and continuity in classifying all animals according to taxonomic judgment. ...

A trinomen is a name consisting of three names: generic name, specific name and subspecific name. All three names are typeset in italics, and only the generic name is capitalised. No indicator of rank is included: in zoology, subspecies is the only rank below that of species. In biological nomenclature, a generic name or the name of a genus (sometimes genus name) is the name of a genus. ... In zoological nomenclature, a specific name is the second part (second name) in the name of a species (a binomen). ... In zoology, a subspecific name is the third part of a trinomen. ...

Canis lupus dingo the Dingo, in Australia, is a subspecies of wolf (Canis lupus).

If the generic and specific name have already been mentioned in the same paragraph, they are often abbreviated to initial letters: for example one might write, "The Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo has a distinct subspecies in Australasia, the Black Shag P. c. novaehollandiae". Binomial name Phalacrocorax carbo Linnaeus, 1758 The Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Oceania. ...

In a scientific publication, a name is incomplete without an author citation and publication details. This indicates who published the name; in what publication; with the date of the publication.

Phalacrocorax carbo novaehollandiae Stephens, 1826

See also

• binominal nomenclature
• in plants, an infraspecific taxon gets a three part name, a ternary name.