Mistakes on the New Peso Bills of the Philippines
Mistakes or Errors of the Scientific Names Used in the Philippine New Peso Bills
- On the new 200 peso bill, the tarsier’s scientific name was written as Tarsius Syrichta, instead of the correct way, Tarsius syrichta.
- According to scientists, there are two errors: the scientific name was not italicized; and the second word in the name should not begin with a capital letter.
- The same mistakes appeared on other bills such as on the new 50 peso bill, 100 peso bill, 200 peso bill, 500 peso bill, 1000 peso bill. The scientific names of the wildlife featured at the back of these new peso bills are incorrect or wrongly written: whale shark (butanding), giant trevally (maliputo) , palm civet, blue-naped parrot, and south sea pearl.
Guidelines in Writing Scientific Names
Dr. Merab Chan, head of the Ateneo de Manila University's biology department, explained the guidelines in writing scientific names:
* The first letter of the genus or generic name should be capitalized. The rest, including the whole of specific epithet, should be written in lower case. There should be a single space between the generic name and the specific epithet.
For example: Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)
* Use italics for generic name and specific epithet. When handwritten or using a typewriter with no italics, underline the words that should be italicized.
For example: Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi or Pithecophaga jefferyi)
Chan said a mistake made on a national currency comprised a "very big mistake" and should be corrected immediately and before the bills are circulated.
"They have to check things like that before putting it on our peso bills," she said. "They should have consulted and verified with a taxonomist first."
"I think they need to change it before they circulate the new bills," she added.
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