In botanical nomenclature (which also covers fungi), autonyms are automatically-created names. As regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Vienna Code, 2006), autonyms are of two kinds:
- for a taxon at a rank below that of genus and above that of species (technically a "subdivision of a genus", but loosely speaking an "infrageneric taxon"), in which case its epithet repeats the generic name (Art. 22), for example
- for a taxon at a rank below that of species (an infraspecific taxon), in which case the infraspecific epithet repeats the specific epithet (Art. 26), for example
An autonym is considered to have been published at the exact same time as the earliest name(s) in that particular rank (the publication of the earliest name(s) of a section in Euphorbia established the autonym Euphorbia sect. Euphorbia), even if not explicitly mentioned at that time, but the autonym has nomenclatural priority over that name (or those names, as the case may be). The type of an autonym is the same as that for the corresponding genus or species. As an autonym is automatically created it does not have an author.