Many plant and animal species have 1 or more common names. Common names often vary between countries and, within Australia, between states and even regions.

Whether to include both common names and Latin names for a species depends on the purpose of the publication. If the publication is for a specialist audience or is a formal taxonomic publication, it is usual to use the Latin binomial, including the author and publication date, at least at the first mention of the species in the text. Afterwards, the author and date can be omitted. A formal taxonomic publication usually does not include common names.

For a general audience or nontechnical texts, it may be best to use the common name. The Latin name is usually included in brackets after the first use of the common name, and the author and date are omitted.