Alternative form of basionym [(botany, taxonomy) An earlier valid scientific name of a species that has since been renamed and from which the new name is partially derived.]
(taxonomy) The scientific system of naming each species of organism with a Latinized name in two parts; the first is the genus, and is written with an initial capital letter; the second is some specific epithet that distinguishes the species within the genus. By convention, the whole name is typeset in italics. The genus part is often abbreviated to its initial letter e.g. H. sapiens for Homo sapiens
(biochemistry, genetics) The classification or taxonomy of organisms based on differences and similarities in biochemistry, especially on differences in amino acid sequence in proteins that the organisms have in common.
(taxonomy) A key; an identification guide; a series of logically organized groups of discriminating information which aims to allow the user to correctly identify a taxon.
A nomenclatural subgroup of a subspecies above a variety, employed for cultivated plants (but proscribed by the ICNCP, preferring the term cultivar group)
(taxonomy) A formal taxonomic category for assembling cultivars, individual plants or assemblages of plants on the basis of defined similarity, formerly denoted by cultivar-group and now by Group.
(taxonomy) A written description of a species or other taxon serving to distinguish that species from all others; especially a description written and published in Latin.
(biology, evolution) The evolutionary process by which one taxonomic group (species, genus, variety, etc.) becomes distinct from another, or acquires distinct features; the result of such a process: distinctness.
(taxonomy) A rank below kingdom and above class, particularly used of plants or fungi, also (particularly of animals) called a phylum; a taxon at that rank.
(taxonomy) The highest rank in the classification of organisms, above kingdom; in the three-domain system, one of the taxa Bacteria, Archaea, or Eukaryota.
(taxonomy) A word in the scientific name of a taxon following the name of the genus or species. This applies only to formal names of plants, fungi and bacteria. In formal names of animals the corresponding term is the specific name.
(taxonomy) A collection of organisms that is given formal recognition at the rank of class with a taxonomic name, but which is known to be an artificial group rather than a natural one.
(taxonomy) A collection of organisms that is given formal recognition at the rank of genus with a taxonomic name, but which is known to be an artificial group rather than a natural one.
(taxonomy) A collection of organisms that is given formal recognition at some rank with a taxonomic name, but which is known to be a grouping based on similar morphological characteristics, rather than more extensive biological similarity.
(taxonomy) A scientific name of an organism that is also used for a different taxon in a different kingdom subject to a different code of nomenclature.
(botany) A synonym that comes into being when a taxon is reduced in status ("reduced to synonymy") and becomes part of a different taxon. The zoological equivalent is "subjective synonym".
(taxonomy) one of the ranks used in classifying animal life forms; an infracohort is more specific than a subcohort and more general than a subtercohort
(botany) The third word in the scientific name of an infraspecific taxon, following the name of the species. This applies only to formal names of plants and fungi, and not to the formal names of bacteria or animals.
(taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below domain and above phylum; a taxon at that rank (e.g. the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom).
The formal Latin or Latinized name of a biological taxon according to an internationally accepted standard, especially the formal name of a species or subspecific taxon.
(dated, taxonomy) A group of orders inferior to a class; in scientific classification, a term occasionally used to express an assemblage of objects intermediate between an order and a class.
The current taxonomic nomenclature in biology, as governed by the ICBN, ICZN and ICNB. This nomenclature accepts the work by Linnaeus as a starting point (except for specified groups and ranks).
Carl (or the latinized Carolus) Linnaeus, also known as Carl von Linné, Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy."
Alternative form of Linnaean [(biology) Of, or relating to Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish naturalist, either personally or in a wider sense, to the era influenced by him.]
(taxonomy, of a taxon) For a species or lower-order taxon, a type (specimen or illustration) that determines the application of the species name; for a genus, the type species; for a family, the type genus.
(taxonomy) A name which has lost the ability to clearly identify a species because it has regularly been used by different authors to identify different species.
(taxonomy) A name whose spelling is required or allowed to be intentionally altered under the ICZN rules of nomenclature but which does not have to be transferred from one taxon to another.
(taxonomy) A name that has been protected by the International Commission for Zoological Nomenclature and is valid to be used although it is known it does not comply with the requirements of the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature
(taxonomy) Of a species, the species name without consideration of whether it is a junior synonym or in reality consists of more than one biological species.
(zoology, botany) Of a subgenus or other infrageneric taxa, having a name which repeats the genus name, indicating that it includes the type species. For older botanical subgeneric and sectional names, it is sometimes prefixed with Eu-.
A form of taxonomy, or biological classification, that attempts to group organisms by means of numerical algorithms (such as cluster analysis) rather than by subjective evaluation of their properties.
(Australia, botany) An informal name given to a plant taxon that has not yet been given a formal scientific name. It consists of the generic name, "sp." (to indicate it is a species), a geographical or morphological identifier, and a collector's name and number representing a herbarium specimen.
(taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below kingdom and above class; also called a divisio or a division, especially in describing plants; a taxon at that rank
(zoology) In zoological nomenclature, a name which is formally published, but which had already been used for another taxon; this second use is invalid (as are all subsequent uses) and the name must be replaced.
Alternative form of protologue [(taxonomy) All the original material associated with a newly published name, comprising its description or diagnosis and any of a number of other elements such as illustrations, synonymy etc.]
(taxonomy) All the original material associated with a newly published name, comprising its description or diagnosis and any of a number of other elements such as illustrations, synonymy etc.
A biological species consisting of overlapping subgroups, each of which can interbreed with the next, but which cannot freely interbreed when taken as a whole
A scheme for the ordering of things such as stellar objects, minerals, forms of life, or personality types according to characteristics that are discernible and testable by scientific methods.
(taxonomy) A scientific name at the rank of species, with two terms: the generic name (or generic epithet, the genus of the species) and the specific name (a term used only in zoology, never in botany, for the second part of a binomial) or the specific epithet (the term always used in botany, which can also be used in zoology).
(taxonomy) The third word in the scientific name of a subspecies, following the name of the species, but only in names of bacteria, plants and fungi. It is not used in formal names of animals.
(biology) A name, Latin in form, used to identify, in principle unambiguously, an organism (or group of organisms), formerly usually based solely on shared morphological feature, now usually on hypothesized common evolutionary descent.
(taxonomy) A coherent system of taxonomic judgements on circumscription and placement of the considered taxa. A taxonomic system is restricted to a large but limited part of the living world.
(taxonomy, zoology) A scientific name at the rank of subspecies: an expansion of a binomial name (a genus and a species) combined with the name of the subspecies; for example Homo sapiens sapiens.
(taxonomy, zoology) A scientific name at the rank of subspecies: an expansion of a binomial name (a genus and a species) combined with the name of the subspecies; for example Anopheles gigas formosus or Homo sapiens sapiens.
Used in the designation of group of species, or sometimes a single species, to indicate that it belongs to the clade its common name (which may be more broadly scoped in common speech) is restricted to in technical speech, or to distinguish it from a similar species, the latter of which may be called false.
(taxonomy) Something, often a specimen, selected as an objective anchor to connect a scientific name to a taxon; this need not be representative or typical.
(taxonomy) A name other than a taxonomic name, in a vernacular language, used to refer to an organism, often corresponding to a taxonomic name, but often not.
(informal) A taxon that exists only to classify organisms that do not fit anywhere else, being either paraphyletic or polyphyletic and therefore not considered valid under modern rules of taxonomy.
(linguistics) The common name for a (species of) animal
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