Taxon
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
A taxon (plural: taxa) is a group of one (or more) populations of organism(s), which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement. Defining what belongs or does not belong to such a taxonomic group is done by a taxonomist with the science of taxonomy. It is not uncommon for one taxonomist to disagree with another on what exactly belongs to a taxon, or on what exact criteria should be used for inclusion.
History
The term taxon was first used in 1926 by Adolf Meyer-Abich for animal groups, as a backformation from the word Taxonomy; the word Taxonomy had been coined a century before from the Greek components τάξις (taxis, meaning arrangement) and -νομία (-nomia meaning method). For plants, it was proposed by Herman Johannes Lam in 1948, and it was adopted at the VII International Botanical Congress, held in 1950.
See also
- ABCD Schema
- Alpha taxonomy
- Folk taxonomy
- Chresonym
- Cladistics
- International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN)
- International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN)
- Rank (botany)
- Rank (zoology)
- Segregate (taxonomy)
- Virus classification