In biology, a genus (plural: genera) is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia. Genera and higher taxonomic levels such as families are used in biodiversity studies, particularly in fossil studies since species cannot always be confidently identified and genera and families typically have longer stratigraphic ranges than species.
The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender", cognate with Greek: γένος – genos, "race, stock, kin".
The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. In the hierarchy of the binomial classification system, genus comes above species and below family.
Read more about Genus: Generic Name, Guidelines
Other articles related to "genus":
1836 None of the nomenclature codes require such criteria for defining a genus, because these are concerned with the nomenclature rules, not with taxonomy ...
... Subfamily Saxicolinae Genus Tarsiger - bush-robins Red-flanked Bluetail or Orange-flanked Bush-robin, Tarsiger cyanurus Golden Bush-robin, Tarsiger chrysaeus White-brow ...
... Orchis is a genus in the orchid family (Orchidaceae) ... This genus gets its name from the Ancient Greek ὄρχις orchis, meaning "testicle", from the appearance of the paired subterranean tuberoids ... This genus occurs mainly in Europe, NW Africa, and it stretches as far Tibet, Mongolia, China and Japan ...
... Dipsacus is a genus of flowering plant in the family Dipsacaceae ... The members of this genus are known as teasel or teazel or teazle ... The genus includes about 15 species of tall herbaceous biennial plants (rarely short-lived perennial plants) growing to 1–2.5 metres (3.3–8.2 ft) tall ...
... The Gartersnake is a Colubrid snake genus (Thamnophis) common across North America, ranging from Alaska and Canada to Central America ... They are also closely related to the snakes of the genus Nerodia, and some species have been moved back and forth between genera ...
Famous quotes containing the word genus:
“Methinks it would be some advantage to philosophy if men were named merely in the gross, as they are known. It would be necessary only to know the genus and perhaps the race or variety, to know the individual. We are not prepared to believe that every private soldier in a Roman army had a name of his own,—because we have not supposed that he had a character of his own.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)