A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype. Under the ICZN, a holotype is one of several kinds of name-bearing types.

For example, the holotype for the butterfly Lycaeides idas longinus is a preserved specimen of that species, held by the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.

A holotype is not necessarily 'typical' of that taxon, although ideally it should be. Sometimes just a fragment of an organism is the holotype, for example in the case of a fossil. The holotype of Pelorosaurus humerocristatus, a large herbivore dinosaur from the early Jurassic period, is a fossil leg bone stored at the Natural History Museum in London. Even if a better specimen is subsequently found, the holotype is not superseded.

In the absence of a holotype (e.g. it was lost) another type may be selected, out of a range of different kinds of type, depending on the case. Note that in the ICBN and ICZN the definitions of types are similar in intent but not identical in terminology or underlying concept.

Joshua Steele, known professionally as Flux Pavilion, is an English dubstep producer and DJ. He is the co-founder of Circus Records, along with Doctor P, DJ Swan-E and Dyspro. He is best known for his 2011 single "Bass Cannon", which peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart, and was placed on the Radio 1 A-List. Along with Doctor P, Flux Pavilion presented the 2011 compilation album Circus One, to which he contributed four tracks. In August 2011 his track "I Can't Stop" was sampled by producer Shama “Sak Pase” Joseph for hip-hop album, Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West. In December 2011, Flux Pavilion was nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll, as one of only two independent artists on the longlist. On 5 March 2012, his track "I Can't Stop" was used in the viral Kony 2012 campaign, and was previously featured in SSX.