Everything about Taxon totally explained
A
taxon (plural
taxa), or
taxonomic unit, is a name designating an organism or a group of
organisms. In
biological nomenclature according to
Carl Linnaeus, a taxon is assigned a
taxonomic rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary relationships.
A distinction is to be made between taxa/taxonomy and classification/systematics. The former refers to biological names and the rules of naming. The latter refers to rank ordering of taxa according to presumptive evolutionary (phylogenetic) relationships.
Note: "Phylum" applies formally to any biological
domain, but traditionally it was always used for animals, whereas "Division" was traditionally often used for
plants,
fungi, etc.
A simple
mnemonic phrase to remember the sequence of taxonomic levels is:
"Dignified Kings Play
Chess On Fine Green Silk"; another, highly expedient example is "King Philip's Class Orders the Family Genius to Speak".
A prefix is used to indicate a ranking of lesser importance. The prefix
super- indicates a rank above, the prefix
sub- indicates a rank below. In zoology the prefix
infra- indicates a rank below
sub-. For instance:
» Superclass
Class » Subclass
Infraclass
Rank is relative, and restricted to a particular systematic schema. For example,
liverworts have been grouped, in various systems of classification, as a family, order, class, or division (phylum). The use of a narrow set of ranks is challenged by users of
cladistics; for example, the mere 10 ranks traditionally used between animal families (governed by the
ICZN) and animal phyla (usually the highest relevant rank in taxonomic work) often can't adequately represent the evolutionary history as more about a lineage's
phylogeny becomes known. In addition, the class rank is quite often not an evolutionary but a
phenetical and
paraphyletic group and as opposed to those ranks governed by the ICZN, can usually not be made monophyletic by exchanging the taxa contained therein. This has given rise to
phylogenetic taxonomy and the ongoing development of the
PhyloCode, which is to govern the application of taxa to
clades.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Taxon'.
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