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 typiclaly have longer stratigraphic ranges then species.
The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender", cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin".
The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, and hence different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. In the hierarchy of the binomial classification system, genus comes above species and below family.
The scientific name of a genus may be called the generic name or generic epithet: it is always capitalized. It plays a pivotal role in binomial nomenclature, the system of biological nomenclature.
It is possible for a genus to be assigned to a kingdom governed by one particular Nomenclature Code by one taxonomist, while other taxonomists assign it to a kingdom governed by a different Code, but this is the exception, not the rule.
Taxonomic units in higher ranks often have a name that is based on a generic name, such as the family name Canidae, which is based on Canis. However, not all names in higher ranks are necessarily based on the name of a genus: for example, Carnivora is the name for the order to which the dog belongs.
Within the same kingdom one generic name can apply to only one genus. This explains why the platypus genus is named Ornithorhynchus—George Shaw named it Platypus in 1799, but the name Platypus had already been given to a group of ambrosia beetles by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1793. Names with the same form but applying to different taxa are called homonyms. Since beetles and platypuses are both members of the kingdom Animalia, the name Platypus could not be used for both. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach published the replacement name Ornithorhynchus in 1800.
See scientific classification and nomenclature codes for more details of this system. Also see type genus.
Category:Scientific classification Category:Botanical nomenclature Category:Zoological nomenclature
af:Genus als:Gattung (Biologie) ar:جنس (تصنيف) an:Chenero (biolochía) az:Cins (taksonomik kateqoriya) zh-min-nan:Sio̍k (seng-bu̍t-ha̍k) be:Род, біялогія be-x-old:Род (біялёгія) bs:Rod (biologija) br:Genad bg:Род (биология) ca:Gènere (biologia) cs:Rod (biologie) cy:Genws da:Slægt (biologi) de:Gattung (Biologie) et:Perekond (bioloogia) el:Γένος (βιολογία) es:Género (biología) eo:Genro (biologio) eu:Genero (biologia) fa:سرده fr:Genre (biologie) fy:Skaai ga:Géineas gv:Genus gl:Xénero (bioloxía) ko:속 (생물학) hy:Սեռ (կատեգորիա) hi:वंश (जीवविज्ञान) hsb:Ród (biologija) hr:Rod (taksonomija) id:Genus ia:Genere (biologia) is:Ættkvísl (flokkunarfræði) it:Genere (tassonomia) he:סוג (טקסונומיה) jv:Genus pam:Genus sw:Jenasi la:Genus (taxinomia) lv:Ģints (bioloģija) lb:Gattung (Biologie) lt:Gentis (biologija) lmo:Zèner (biologìa) hu:Nemzetség (rendszertan) mk:Род (биологија) mt:Ġeneru (tassonomija) ms:Genus nl:Geslacht (biologie) ja:属 (分類学) no:Slekt (biologi) nn:Biologisk slekt oc:Genre (biologia) nds:Geslecht (Biologie) pl:Rodzaj (biologia) pt:Género (biologia) ro:Gen (biologie) ru:Род sah:Уус (биология) scn:Gèniri (bioluggìa) simple:Genus sk:Rod (taxonómia) sl:Rod (biologija) sr:Род (биологија) sh:Rod (taksonomija) fi:Suku (biologia) sv:Släkte tl:Sari ta:பேரினம் (உயிரியல்) te:ప్రజాతి th:สกุล (ชีววิทยา) tr:Cins uk:Рід (біологія) ur:جنس vec:Genere (tassonomia) vi:Chi (sinh học) vls:Geslacht (biologie) yi:מין (ביאלאגיע) zh:属 (生物)This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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