Taxonomic rank (rank, category, taxonomic category) is abstract term used in taxonomy used in scientific classification of organism. Taxonomic rank indicates the level of taxon in taxonomic hierarchy. Taxons ranked in certain taxonomic ranks are real groups of real organisms at real classification level.

Definition of taxonomic rank (there called only a rank) in International Code of Zoological Nomenclature:

History

Carl Linnaeus devised Linnaean taxonomy and he used five ranks: class, order, genus, species, and variety.

Today, nomenclature is regulated by Nomenclature Codes, which allows names divided into exactly defined ranks. Despite this there are slightly different ranks for zoology and different ranks for botany.

Ranks in zoology and in botany

Main articles: Rank (zoology) and Rank (botany)

There are definitions of the following taxonomic ranks in International Code of Zoological Nomenclature: superfamily, family, subfamily, tribe, subtribe, genus, subgenus, species, subspecies.

There are definitions of the following taxonomic ranks in International Code of Botanical Nomenclature: kingdom (regnum), subregnum, division or phylum (divisio, phylum), subdivisio or subphylum, class (classis), subclassis, order (ordo), subordo, family (familia), subfamilia, tribe (tribus), subtribus, genus (genus), subgenus, section (sectio), subsectio, series (series), subseries, species (species), subspecies, variety (varietas), subvarietas, form (forma), subforma.

There are definition of following taxonomic ranks in International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants: cultivar group, cultivar.

Main taxonomic ranks

There are 8 main taxonomic ranks: domain, kingdom, phylum or division¹,class, order, family, genus, species.

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Main taxonomic ranks in more languages (zoology and botany)
Latin	English	Vietnamese	German	Spanish	French	Greek	Japanese	Mandarin
regnum	kingdom		Reich	reino	règne	βασίλειο	مملكة		界
phylum	phylum1	Giới	Stamm	filo	phylum		門 (動物)
divisio	division2	Ngành	Abteilung	división	embranchement				門 (�物)
classis	class	Lớp	Klasse	clase	classe	ομοταξία		綱
ordo	order	Bộ	Ordnung	orden	ordre	τάξη	目	目
familia	family	H�	Familie	familia	famille	οικογένεια	عائلة	科	科
genus	genus	Chi	Gattung	género	genre	γένος	جنس	属	屬
species	species	Loài	Art	especie	espèce	είδος	نوع		種

Notes to table

¹ Phylum is used in zoology. It is at the same level as division in botany. ² Preferred before to phylum in botany, that is accounted as identical.

Examples

The usual classifications of five species follow: the fruit fly so familiar in genetics laboratories (Drosophila melanogaster), humans (Homo sapiens), the peas used by Gregor Mendel in his discovery of genetics (Pisum sativum), the "fly agaric" mushroom Amanita muscaria, and the bacterium Escherichia coli. The eight major ranks are given in bold; a selection of minor ranks are given as well.

Table Notes:

• The ranks of higher taxa, especially intermediate ranks, are prone to revision as new information about relationships is discovered. For example, the traditional classification of primates (class Mammalia — subclass Theria — infraclass Eutheria — order Primates) has been modified by new classifications such as McKenna and Bell (class Mammalia — subclass Theriformes — infraclass Holotheria) with Theria and Eutheria assigned lower ranks between infraclass and the order Primates. See mammal classification for a discussion. These differences arise because there are only a small number of ranks available and a large number of branching points in the fossil record.

• Within species further units may be recognised. Animals may be classified into subspecies (for example, Homo sapiens sapiens, modern humans) or morphs (for example Corvus corax varius morpha leucophaeus, the Pied Raven). Plants may be classified into subspecies (for example, Pisum sativum subsp. sativum, the garden pea) or varieties (for example, Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon, snow pea), with cultivated plants getting a cultivar name (for example, Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon \'Snowbird\'). Bacteria may be classified by strains (for example Escherichia coli O157:H7, a strain that can cause food poisoning).

• A mnemonic for remembering the order of the taxa is: Do Koalas Prefer Chocolate Or Fruit, Generally Speaking? Another easy one is Damn, Kinky People Can Often Find Great Sex. Other mnemonics are available atmnemonic-device.eu and.thefreedictionary.com.

Terminations of names

Taxa above the genus level are often given names based on the type genus, with a standard termination. The terminations used in forming these names depend on the kingdom, and sometimes the phylum and class, as set out in the table below.

Table notes:

• In botany and mycology names at the rank of family and below are based on the name of a genus, sometimes called the type genus of that taxon, with a standard ending. For example, the rose family Rosaceae is named after the genus Rosa, with the standard ending "-aceae" for a family. Names above the rank of family are formed from a family name, or are descriptive (like Gymnospermae or Fungi).

• For animals, there are standard suffixes for taxa only up to the rank of superfamily.ICZN article 27.2

• Forming a name based on a generic name may be not straightforward. For example, the Latin "homo" has the genitive "hominis", thus the genus "Homo" (human) is in the Hominidae, not "Homidae".

• The ranks of epifamily, infrafamily and infratribe (in animals) are used where the complexities of phyletic branching require finer-than-usual distinctions. Although they fall below the rank of superfamily, they are not regulated under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and hence do not have formal standard endings. The suffixes listed here are regular, but informal.As supplied by Eugene S. Gaffney & Peter A. Meylan (1988), "A phylogeny of turtles", in M.J. Benton (ed.), The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, Volume 1: Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds 157-219 (Oxford: Clarendon Press).

All taxonomic ranks

There are written all taxonomic ranks including those ones that are not in use today or those ones that are identical with another ranks.

All taxonomic ranks in more languages (zoology and botany)
Latin	English	German	French	Notes
	superdomain
regio	domain	Domäne	domaine
	subdomain
	infradomain
imperium	empire		empire
superregnum	superkingdom
	suprakingdom
	midkingdom
regnum	kingdom	Reich	règne
subregnum	subkingdom	Unterreich	sous-règne
	interkingdom
	branch
	infrakingdom
superphylum	superphylum	Stammgruppe, Ãœberstamm	super-phylum
	supraphylum
	midphylum
phylum	phylum	Stamm	phylum
subphylum	subphylum	Unterstamm	sous-phylum
infraphylum	subphylum
divisio	division1	Abteilung	embranchement, division
subdivisio	subdivision1	Unterabteilung	sous-embranchement
claudius	claudius
superclassis	superclass	Ãœberklasse	super-classe
	grade	Reihe
classis	class	Klasse	classe
subclassis	subclass	Unterklasse	sous-classe
	infraclass		infra-classe
parvclassis	parvclass
superdivisio	superdivision2	Ãœberabteilung	super-embranchment
divisio	division2	Abteilung	embranchement, division
subdivisio	subdivision2	Unterabteilung	sous-embranchement
sectio	section2
	subsection2
	group
	subgroup
	superlegion
legio	legion
	sublegion
	infralegion
supercohos	supercohort
cohors	cohort
subcohors	subcohort
	magnorder
superordo	superorder	Ãœberordnung	superordre
	series
	subseries
	grandorder
	gigaorder
	megaorder
	mirorder
ordo	order	Ordnung	ordre
hyperordo	hyperorder
subordo	suborder	Unterordnung	sous-ordre
infraordo	infraorder	Infraordnung	infraordre
	parvorder
falanx
cohors	cohort
superfamilia	superfamily	Ãœberfamilie	superfamille
	family group
familia	family	Familie	famille
	subfamily group
subfamilia	subfamily	Unterfamilie	sous-famille
	infrafamily
supertribus	supertribe
tribus	tribe	Tribus	tribu
subtribus	subtribe	Subtribus	sous-tribu
	infratribe
supergenus	supergenus
	genus group
genus	genus	Gattung	genre
subgenus	subgenus	Untergattung	sous-genre
	infragenus
supersectio	supersection1
sectio	section1		section
subsectio	subsection1
	infrasection1
	superseries1
series	series1		série
	subseries1
	infraseries1
superspecies	superspecies
	complex
	species group
	species subgroup
	aggregate
	synklepton
species	species	Art	espèce
	microspecies
klepton	klepton
	aggregate
subspecies	subspecies	Unterart (Rasse)	sous-espèce
	infraspecies
	group
hybrid	hybrid
convarietas	convariety
supervarietas	supervariety
varietas	variety	Varietät	variété
subvarietas	subvariety
	infravariety
natio
superforma	superform
forma, morpha	form	Zuchtform	forme
subforma	subform
	infraform
	cultivar group
	cultivar
	group of breeds
	section of breeds
	breed, race
	strain
aberratio	aberration
	serogroup
	serotype		sérovar
	biotype		biovar
	pathotype		pathovar
	population
lusus	lusus

Notes to table

¹ Level in plant taxonomy. ² Level in animal taxonomy.

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia