I don't think scientific names are capitalized, normally.

As for changelings, I'd go for equus scarabaeus caballus personally

The genus is capitalized, the species and subspecies are not.

I personally don't consider the ponies to be of the genus Equus like humans are not of the genus Pan (containing chimpanzees). They're of the family Equidae, but are genetically distinct enough from common equines to be classified as their own genus.

I named the genus Petquin (little horse) and originally the different ponies were their own species. Petiquin terra (earth ponies), Petiquin pegasus (pegasus ponies), Petiquin unicorn (unicorn ponies), Petiquin hippocampus (sea ponies), and Petquin rhopalocera (flutter ponies). Alacorns (I spell it with an "a") are not an actual species up a magically induced state, but can be referred to as Petiquin alacorn.

Since FiM has shown these are actually subspecies rather than distinct species, I needed to add an actual species. So, the little ponies as a collective species are Petiquin ferus with terra, pegasus, unicorn, hippocampus, rhopalocera, or alacorn following as the subspecies name. The zebras are Petiquin dolichohippus and the donkeys are Petiquin asinus. For changelings, I would call them Petiquin metamorphose.

Xenophilia covered this nicely, could someone post the tree if species for me?

1691026

(Couldn't resist. You left yourself wide open...)

1690862 Equus sapiens, Equus morpheus

1690862 Uh, Equus is the horse genus, so the species would be triforme, referring to the three very different races (excluding the extreme anomaly of alicorns as unusual)
Changelings would be Equus metamorpherossagus, with the species name referring to their changing abilities and consumption of love

1691134
Changelings are nothing like horses. Why would they be in the same genus?

1691235, But there is a fanon consensus that they can interbreed with ponies, making them at most a sub-species

1690862 Equus incredibilis roughly coming out as "Incredible Horses". In this case "Incredible" might be understood as simply unbelievable. That would be my classification of ponies.

Changelings, on the other hand, I would likely name as Quadropedo-Insectum amorcomendentium, roughly coming out as "Four-legged segmented love eater."

So I agree with 1691235 in that changelings would not be in the same genus.

1691278 Or, one can simply state that changelings, ponies, and any other combination of sapients, simply operate with a biology unlike our own (pretty much a gimme from what we've seen), and that part of this is an innate inter-breedability amongst sapients.

I wrote this a while ago, for which I came up with scientific names for the pony races.

Alicorn - Equus Aurae (heaven horse)
Unicorn - Equus Magia (magic horse)
Pegasus - Equus Pennata (feather horse)
Earth pony - Equus Terra (earth horse)

1691592 So, Los Angeles would actually be Los Alicorn? Sorry, had to...

1691592

Technically they wouldn't be seperate races as they can breed with each other...

1693616

Different species CAN breed with each other, and the results are called hybrids. One example is a mule; a hybrid between a donkey and a horse, specifically a male donkey and a female horse. Incidentally, the offspring of a male horse and female donkey is called a 'Hinny'. It happens all the time in nature.

Also, I referred to them as races rather than species.

1691278

[taking fanon seriously]

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1693788

That does happen but there's an important difference. When different species breed together and produce offspring, the offspring themselves are infertile and unable to breed. Only individuals of the same species can breed and produce viable offspring (in other words, their young can breed).

The three types of pony can breed and produce viable offspring (This has happened in cannon, with the Cakes family.) Therefore, the three races of ponies are subspecies of each other, not separate species.

1694221

This is a common misconception. It is true that many hybrids are infertile, but there are plenty that are perfectly fertile and capable of producing offspring. For example, pretty much all the members of the Canis(dog) genus can interbreed with each other and produce fertile offsrping. This includes wolves, coyotes, domestic dogs, and others. A bit closer to home, Zebroid hybrids (zebra crossed with either a horse, donkey, or pony) are sometimes fertile, although rarely. They do however have some of the best names out there: Zorse, Zonkey, and Zony. I'm sure you can guess which is which. Hybridization happens much more readily in plants than it does in animals, and they are more often than not fertile. It happens naturally, as well as being artificially encouraged by humans. Homo sapiens might also be the result, at least in part, of interspecies breeding. The jury is still very much out, but many anthropologists think that our ancestors got a little busy with Neanderthals.

1697064
Ah... I said those things because the definition of a species I was given at uni a few weeks ago. But technically the term was 'reproductive isolation', which technically... Darn it all, you make me want to hit the books. I'll drop the topic, ok, I'm not good at arguing my point.

1691410 Yeah, I was thinking their physical forms are pretty loosely held. Now I think about it, the genus would be something more like Hippoides, and the Little Ponies, microsapiens var. unicornus, pegasus, Crystalis, and the changelings morphilophages

Thanks you all for the discussion...very helpful.

1690862
Oy! Changelings' two most dominant traits are the fact that they can shapeshift and the fact that they feed on love, right?
That being considered, wouldn't the changelings' scientific title be more like:
Equus Metamorphus Hematophagus

I know that last part is wrong. I don't think there's a taxonomical name for "love-eating" as of yet, so I used the closest alternative I could think of: "blood-drinking". Also, the middle bit could be "Mimicus" instead of "Metamorphus".

AIP§