How to write scientific names

I'm a fan of dinosaurs. I'm also a biologist. So it was a fairly typical occurrence when my excitement at reading about a really cool discovery:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/08/health/dinosaur-tail-trapped-in-amber-trnd
Was dampened by a technical error:
"The tail section belongs to a young coelurosaurian -- from the same group of dinosaurs as the predatory velociraptors and the tyrannosaurus."

I actually though it was a good article and the author got many technical points right, including what a coelurosaur is. I imagine they paid attention to those parts, and that the mistakes come from simply not realising anything was wrong. The errors are in the two species names.

Species names (or scientific, or binomial names) are the pairs of words assigned to every species scientists have described. Taxonomy is the science of naming things. Taxonomists try their best not to get into what is and isn't a species (there are like thirty definitions) but, once something is recognised as needing a name, they decide how to name it. Official names allow scientists speaking different languages and living decades apart to talk about the same organism. They're super important.

Different organisms are covered by different codes of nomenclature (naming). Dinosaurs come under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Apart from the one for viruses, the codes all follow very similar rules, including on how names should be written. It might seem trivial, but writing and formatting names properly is important. Standardisation makes it much easier to find things, and maintains the clarity of a single official name for each species.

So, here's how to write the scientific name of the world's favourite carnivorous dinosaur:

Tyrannosaurus rex

Or, as an abbreviation if you're sure the reader knows which species in the genus Tyrannosaurus you're talking about:

T. rex

• There are two parts. The first word is the genus name, the second is the specific name. Each genus can have multiple species. For example, Triceratops has two species: Triceratops horridus and Triceratops prorsus. Think of the genus as a noun and the species as an adjective.
• Dinosaurs are a bit strange because most people only know them by genus. Referring to an organism by just its genus name is fine, but remember that species in the same genus still have differences.
• The genus name is always capitalised. The specific name is never capitalised, even if it's a proper noun.
• If you abbreviate the genus name, treat it like any other abbreviated word and put a full stop at the end.
• Because the name refers to a category of organisms rather than individuals, you can't make the name plural. Triceratopses doesn't make sense. Use it like you would 'sheep' or 'deer'. For example, "my pyjamas are covered in Triceratops" (I wish).
• Finally, the name should always be in italics if typed. If handwritten, underline it instead because hand-written italics often isn't clear. But note that names of higher-ranking groups than genus or species, like family or kingdom, don't need italicising or underlining.

So, the quote from the article should have read:
"The tail section belongs to a young coelurosaurian -- from the same group of dinosaurs as the predatory Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus."

And next time you read something about T-Rex, make like a taxonomist and feel disappointed.