In biological nomenclature, a type species is the species to which the name of a genus is permanently linked; it is the species that contains the biological type specimen(s) of the taxon. A type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature (naming) of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. This is an important concept whenever a taxon containing multiple species must be divided into more than one genus; the type species automatically assigns the name of the original taxon to one of the resulting new taxa, thus reducing the potential for confusion.
Under both the zoological and botanical nomenclature codes, every named genus or subdivision of a genus, whether or not currently recognized as valid or correct, should have a type species. In practice however there is a backlog of untypified names.
A similar concept is used for suprageneric groups, the concept of a type genus.
Read more about Type Species: In Zoology, In Botany
Famous quotes containing the words type and/or species:
“Time has an undertaking establishment on every block and drives his coffin nails faster than the steam riveters rivet or the stenographers type or the tickers tick out fours and eights and dollar signs and ciphers.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“If there is a species which is more maltreated than children, then it must be their toys, which they handle in an incredibly off-hand manner.... Toys are thus the end point in that long chain in which all the conditions of despotic high-handedness are in play which enchain beings one to another, from one species to another—cruel divinities to their sacrificial victims, from masters to slaves, from adults to children, and from children to their objects.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)