‘Northern Giant Hornet’ Adopted as Common Name for Vespa mandarinia
'Spongy Moth' Adopted as New Common Name for Lymantria dispar
ESA Publications - Member Access
The ESA publications program is designed to meet the professional needs of the ESA membership, reflect emerging areas of interest and research in entomology, and promote entomology in all its sub-disciplines for the advancement of science and the benefit of society. Publication policies, procedures, and governance are also covered.
Click below for members-only access.
‘Spongy Moth’ Proposed as New Common Name for Lymantria dispar
Common Names of Insects Database
The ESA Common Names database is an essential reference for anyone who works with insects. It includes more than 2,000 common names and is searchable by common name, scientific name, author, order, family, genus, and species.
Better Common Names Project
The Entomological Society of America's Better Common Names Project aims to ensure that insect common names are respectful, inclusive, and accurately descriptive.
Proposed Common Names
The following new insect common names were recently approved by the ESA Committee on Common Names and are being submitted to the ESA membership for comment. Please submit any comments to the ESA Committee on Common Names by emailing pubs@entsoc.org.
To access the proposal, click on the hyperlinked common name below.
Use & Submission of Common Names
Introduction
In zoology, the formation of a scientific name for an organism follows a strict set of rules adopted by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. This International Code of Zoological Nomenclature serves to promote the stability, accuracy, and universality of an organism's scientific name. Every proposed scientific name must be unique and distinct from all other names. In this way, every named organism is a distinguishable entity. However, scientific names are not always stable.