Rules for Capitalizing Scientific Terms and Geological Eras

1.     Names of planets and their satellites, asteroids, stars, constellations, and groups of stars and other celestial objects are capitalized; however, the words sun, earth and moon are usually lowercased unless they occur with the other astronomical names.

Examples:  Venus; Ganymede; Sirius; Pleiades the Milky Way: probes heading for the Moon and Mars

2.     Genera in binomial (two-word) scientific names in zoology and botany are capitalized; names of species are not.

Examples:  a cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae); a common buttercup (Ranuculus acris); a robin (Turdus migratorius)

3.     New Latin names of classes, families, and all groups above genera in zoology and botany are capitalized; however, their derivative adjectives and nouns are not.

Examples:  Gastropoda but gastropod; Thallophyta but thallophyte

4.     Geological eras, periods, epochs, strata, and names of prehistoric divisions are capitalized.

Examples:  Silurian period; Pleistocene epoch; Age of Reptiles; Neolithic age