may be placed after a scientific name. The authority is the name of the scientist or scientists who first validly published the name. For example, in 1758 Linnaeus gave the Asian elephant the scientific name Elephas maximus, so the name is sometimes written as "Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758". The names of authors are frequently abbreviated: the abbreviation L., for Linnaeus, is commonly used. In botany, there is, in fact, a regulated list of standard abbreviations (see list of botanists by author abbreviation). The system for assigning authorities differs slightly between botany and zoology. However, it is standard that if the genus of a species has been changed since the original description, the original authority's name is placed in parentheses. Phenetics In phenetics, also known as taximetrics, or numerical taxonomy, organisms are classified based on overall similarity, regardless of their phylogeny or evolutionary relationships. It results in a measure of hypergeometric "distance" between taxa. Phenetic methods have become relatively rare in modern times, largely superseded by cladistic analyses, as phenetic methods do not distinguish shared ancestral (or plesiomorphic) traits from shared derived (or apomorphic) traits. However, certain phenetic methods, such as neighbor joining, have persisted, as rapid estimators of relationship when more advanced methods (such as Bayesian inference) are too computationally expensive. Databases Modern taxonomy uses database technologies to search and catalogue classifications and their documentation. While there is no commonly used database, there are comprehensive databases such as the Catalogue of Life, which attempts to list every documented species. The catalogue listed 1.64 million species for all kingdoms as of April 2016, claiming coverage of more than three quarters of the estimated species known to modern science. See also Automated species identification Bacterial taxonomy Cluster analysis Consortium for the Barcode of Life Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities Genetypes Glossary of scientific naming Identification (biology) Incertae sedis Open Tree of Life Parataxonomy Phenogram Set theory Taxonomy (general) Virus classification Notes References Bibliography Wiley, Edward O. and Bruce S. Lieberman. 2011. "Phylogenetics: Theory and Practice of Phylogenetic Systematics", 2nd edn. External links What is taxonomy? at the Natural History Museum London Taxonomy at NCBI the National Center for Biotechnology Information Taxonomy at UniProt the Universal Protein Resource ITIS the Integrated Taxonomic Information System CETaF the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities Wikispecies free species directory Biological classification. Biological nomenclature Biological classification