Type genus

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

In biological classification, a type genus is a representative genus, with regard to a biological family. The term and concept are used much more often and much more formally in zoology than in botany, and the definition is dependent on the nomenclatural Code that applies:

• In zoological nomenclature, a type genus is "The nominal genus that is the name-bearing type of a nominal family-group taxon."

• In botanical nomenclature, the phrase "type genus" is used, unofficially, as a term of convenience. In the ICN this phrase has no status. The code uses type specimens for ranks up to family, and all ranks must bear the name of the genus in which their types are placed, but the Code does not refer to the genus containing that type as a "Type genus". Names above the rank of family are not under any nomenclatural restriction according to the ICN, except where it comes to their endings.

Example: "Poa is the type genus of the family Poaceae" is another way of saying that the family name Poaceae is based on the generic name Poa.

See also [edit]

• Type (biology)
• Type species

References [edit]