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In biology, a taxon (back-formation from taxonomy; pl.: taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular ranking , especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established.
The term "alpha taxonomy" is primarily used to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. [20] In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, and the products of research through the end of the 19th century. [21]
In biology, taxonomic rank (which some authors prefer to call nomenclatural rank [1] because ranking is part of nomenclature rather than taxonomy proper, according to some definitions of these terms) is the relative or absolute level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in a hierarchy that reflects evolutionary
The term (like its opposite, natural classification) has many meanings; in this book I have picked a phenetic meaning. A classificatory group will be defined by certain characters, called defining characters ; in an artificial classification, the members of a group resemble one another in their defining characters (as they must, by definition ...
The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks.A domain contains one or more kingdoms. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown. In biology, a kingdom is the second highest taxonomic rank, just below domain.
A clade is by definition monophyletic, meaning that it contains one ancestor which can be an organism, a population, or a species and all its descendants. [ note 1 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] The ancestor can be known or unknown; any and all members of a clade can be extant or extinct.
This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms.It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions from sub-disciplines and related fields, see Glossary of cell biology, Glossary of genetics, Glossary of evolutionary biology, Glossary of ecology ...
In the ICZN, the system is also called binominal nomenclature, [1] "binomi'N'al" with an "N" before the "al", which is not a typographic error, meaning "two-name naming system". [ 2 ] The first part of the name – the generic name – identifies the genus to which the species belongs, whereas the second part – the specific name or specific ...