History of the taxon:

Etymology of the name:

Taxon: Birnaviridae Proposal: Ratification_1984.pdf  ICTV Report: Birnaviridae Reference: PMID: 6743022 

from the Latin  bi meaning “two”,  and RNA for ribonucleic acid, referring to the bisegmented nature of the genome, and the presence of dsRNA, in viruses of the family; the suffix -viridae for family taxa