From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In
biology, a
genus (plural:
genera) is a
taxonomic unit (a
taxon) used in the classification of living and
fossil
organisms. The term
comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender",
[1] cognate
with
Greek:
γένος –
genos, "race, stock, kin".
[2]
The hierarchy of
biological classification's
eight major
taxonomic ranks.
.^ FAMILY -- One genus or several genera which have a basically similar floral pattern make up a family.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Intermediate minor rankings are not
shown.
The composition of a genus is determined by a
taxonomist.
.^ BIGENERIC -- A hybrid produced by crossing two different genera.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
In
the hierarchy of the binomial classification system, genus comes
above
species and below
family.
Generic
name
.^ The name of the genus is incorporated into the scientific names of all the member species: Pieris napi and Pieris rapae , for example, both belong to the genus Pieris .- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
It plays a pivotal role in
binomial nomenclature, the system
of biological nomenclature.
Binomial
nomenclature
The rules for scientific names are laid down in the
Nomenclature
Codes; depending on the kind of organism and the Kingdom it
belongs to, a different Code may apply, with different rules, laid
down in a different terminology.
.^ Feeding upon only one kind of food, for example one species or one genus of plants.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ When such an instance comes to light one of the species must be given another name.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ There is only one botanical name per plant so if you want a specific variety, use it's botanical name to be sure you're getting what you want.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ SPECIES -- Used when naming plants.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ The name of an instrument used for the transfer of a ship, while she is at sea; it differs from a common bill of sale.- Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition - Letter G 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.constitution.org [Source type: Original source]
^ Designates a specific species of the 'Genus' and is best described as the plant worlds equivalent to our Christian names (or first names).- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ A contract between two or more persons by which they agree to play by certain rules at cards, dice, or other contrivance, and that one shall be the loser, and the other the winner.- Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition - Letter G 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.constitution.org [Source type: Original source]
^ Governments are also divided into monarchical and republican; among the monarchical states may be classed empires, kingdoms, and others; in these the sovereignty resides in, a single individual.- Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition - Letter G 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.constitution.org [Source type: Original source]
^ One which is employed by the master or owners, on a particular voyage, and is hired by a number of persons, unconnected with each other, to convey their respective goods to the place of destination.- Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition - Letter G 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.constitution.org [Source type: Original source]
Pivotal in binomial
nomenclature
The generic name often is a component of the names of taxa of
lower rank.
.^ Designates a specific species of the 'Genus' and is best described as the plant worlds equivalent to our Christian names (or first names).- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Similarly,
Canis
lupus familiaris is the scientific name for the
domestic dog.
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.
.^ A division of the animal kingdom lower than a phylum and higher than an order, for example the class Insecta.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ The name of the genus is incorporated into the scientific names of all the member species: Pieris napi and Pieris rapae , for example, both belong to the genus Pieris .- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
The
problem of identical names used for different genera
.^ GENUS -- Used when naming plants.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ When such an instance comes to light one of the species must be given another name.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ There is only one botanical name per plant so if you want a specific variety, use it's botanical name to be sure you're getting what you want.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ PALMATE LEAF -- Five or more lobes arising from one point -- hand-like.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Flagellum not more than twice as long as preceding two segments and one-quarter as wide as long .- Key to the Eastern Asilid genera 22 September 2009 20:28 UTC www.hr-rna.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ There is only one botanical name per plant so if you want a specific variety, use it's botanical name to be sure you're getting what you want.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
For instance,
Anura is the name of the
order of
frogs but also is the name of a genus
of plants (although not current: it is a
synonym);
Aotus is the genus of
golden peas and
night monkeys;
Oenanthe is the genus of
wheatears and
water dropworts,
and
Prunella is
the genus of
accentors and
self-heal.
.^ There is only one botanical name per plant so if you want a specific variety, use it's botanical name to be sure you're getting what you want.- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ It denotes the number of beings, or objects, which agree in certain general properties, common to them all, so that genus is, in fact, only an abstract idea, expressed by some general name or term; or rather a name or term, to signify what is called au abstract idea.- Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition - Letter G 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.constitution.org [Source type: Original source]
^ Children stand to each other in the relation either of full blood or half blood, according as they are descended from the same parents, or have only one parent in common.- Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition - Letter G 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.constitution.org [Source type: Original source]
.^ Name given to a young insect which is markedly different from the adult: caterpillars and fly maggots are good examples.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ A difference in size, form, or color, between individuals of the same species, characterizing two distinct types.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ A scientific name which has been given to two different species.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
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.
Types and
genera
.^ Designates a specific species of the 'Genus' and is best described as the plant worlds equivalent to our Christian names (or first names).- The GreenWeb - GreenWeb's Gardening Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.boldweb.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
.^ The type specimen of a species is the actual insect from which the original description of that species was produced.- Gordon's Entomological Glossary 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.earthlife.net [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
Should this specimen turn out to be assignable to
another genus, the generic name linked to it becomes a
junior synonym, and the remaining
taxa in the
former genus need to be reassessed.
Guidelines
There are no hard and fast rules that a taxonomist has to follow
in deciding what does and what does not belong in a particular
genus.
.^ So does that mean that the evolution of genus Homo was a fluke?- Chromosome Fusion Disproves Evolution - talk.origins | Google Groups 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ A good start is to keep these amongst there own genus, oxy's to oxy's mycediums with mycediums etc.- Chalices sting other chalices ? - Reef Central Online Community 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC www.reefcentral.com [Source type: General]
^ So > > does that mean that the evolution of genus Homo was a fluke?- Chromosome Fusion Disproves Evolution - talk.origins | Google Groups 30 January 2010 2:02 UTC groups.google.com [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
For instance, some
rules-of-thumb for delimiting a genus are outlined in Gill.
[3]
According to these, a genus should fulfill three criteria to be
descriptively useful:
- monophyly – all
descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together;
- reasonable compactness – a genus should not be expanded
needlessly; and
- distinctness – in regards of evolutionarily relevant criteria,
i.e. ecology, morphology, or biogeography; note
that DNA sequences are a consequence
rather than a condition of diverging evolutionarily
lineages except in cases where they directly inhibit gene flow (e.g. postzygotic barriers).
Nomenclature
...difficulties occurring in generic nomenclature: similar
cases abound, and become complicated by the different views taken
of the matter by the various taxonomists.
—Prof. C. S. Rafinesque. 1836 [4]
|
None of the
Nomenclature Codes require such
criteria for defining a genus, because these are concerned with the
nomenclature rules, not with taxonomy. These regulate formal
nomenclature, aiming for universal and stable scientific names.
See also
External
links
References
- ^
Merriam Webster
Dictionary
- ^
Genos, Henry George
Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at
Perseus
- ^
Gill, F. B., B. Slikas, and F. H. Sheldon. “Phylogeny of titmice
(Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the
mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene.” Auk 122(1): 121-143, 2005. (Google Scholar)
- ^ Rafinesque, Prof. C. S.
(1836). "Generic Rules" (html).
Flora telluriana Pars
Prima First Part of the Synoptical Flora Telluriana, Centuries I,
II, III, IV. With new Natural Classes, Orders and families:
containing the 2000 New or revised Genera and Species of Trees,
Palms, Shrubs, Vines, Plants, Lilies, Grasses, Ferns, Algas, Fungi,
& c. from North and South America, Polynesia, Australia, Asia
Europe and Africa, omitted or mistaken by the authors, that were
observed or ascertained, described or revised, collected or
figured, between 1796 and 1836.. 1. Philadelphia: H.
Probasco. http://www.us.archive.org/GnuBook/?id=floratelluriana00rafi#99. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
"...difficulties occurring in generic nomenclature: similar cases
abound, and become complicated by the different views taken of the
matter by the various botanists."