Taxon

Taxon is a term used in biology and taxonomy to refer to a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to form a unit. Although the concept of a taxon is fundamental to much biological research, its definition has become complex and controversial.

Definition

A taxon (plural: taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although "taxon" is often used interchangeably with "taxonomic group", it does not necessarily refer to a taxonomic rank.

History

The term "taxon" was first used in 1926 by Adolf Meyer-Abich for animal groups. It has been in use for plants since 1948, when it was coined by Lennart von Post, a Swedish botanist.

Taxonomic ranks

In the hierarchy of biological classification, taxon has various ranks. The principal ranks in modern use are domain, kingdom, phylum (division is sometimes used in botany in place of phylum), class, order, family, genus, and species. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the father of taxonomy, as he developed a system known as Linnaean taxonomy for categorization of organisms and binomial nomenclature for naming organisms.

See also

• Biology
• Taxonomy (biology)
• Binomial nomenclature
• Carl Linnaeus

References

Taxon Resources
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