Ok, so I have been coming across various populations of organisms that have their genus listed; however, their species name is not known. I'm guessing that's because lab personnel or overseers have not had the time to define what species they are.

 

Let's say I find a fungus.

It looks like Paecilomyces lilacinus, but I am not sure it is Paecilomyces lilacinus.

Therefore, it gets put in the genus Paecilomyces.

And then I append the term "sp"? Right?

 

Would the correct underlining and "unknown" naming system in terms of binomial nomenclature look like this:

 

Paecilomyces sp.

 

Is the period underlined?

Is there anything I'm missing?

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, all.

Underlining? In everything I've read, scientific names are always italicized.

 

(Genus) sp. is the correct formatting, and is usually because the species cannot be determined (I'm most familiar with this coming up in tadpoles, which can be right pain in the ass to ID).

Underlining is used instead of italicizing for handwritten , but not for typed notes. Unless you got an old typewriter that does not do italics.

To be absolutely correct however it would be Genus sp. as sp. is only an abbreviated placeholder and not a species name.