Taxa are a group consisting of a certain number of animals, united on the basis of certain characteristics. As the British Encyclopedia says:
Taxon - any units used in the science of biological classification or taxonomy. Taxa are hierarchical from kingdom to subspecies, and each taxon usually includes several taxa of a lower rank. In the classification of protozoa, plants, and animals, some taxonomic categories are universally recognized.
There are many terms for genetically controlled variants within a species, but these names are usually not considered taxa. In the polymorphic form, the terms "morphine" and "variety" are often used. Among domestic animals, a genetically clean line is usually called a breed. In botany, the term variety is applied to a recognizable variant that occurs during cultivation.
general information
Biologists group and classify both extinct and living species of organisms using the conceptual framework of scientific (or biological) classification: scientific systematization or taxonomy. Taxon denotes a special taxonomic grouping of organisms. Mammals, for example, are a taxon of vertebrates. These include the Mammalia class.
The taxonomic rank (species, category, group) refers to the level of a taxon in a given hierarchy. Placed at a certain ordinal level, they represent a group of organisms with the same classification indicator. The eight main categories used to rank organisms are species, genus, family, order, class, type or separation, kingdom and domain (in biology, the terms “separation” and “type” occupy the same taxonomic rank: “phylum” traditionally applied to animals, while "separation" is more often applied to plants and fungi).
Prefixes and Suffixes
Biologists use a prefix added to one of the eight main rating categories to indicate more subtle differences in rank than is possible with existing ones. The prefix "super-" indicates a rank higher, the prefix "sub-" indicates a position one step lower. In zoology, the prefix "infra-" means an additional rank difference, lower than sub-.
For example, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature says that a taxon is:
“The level, for nomenclature purposes, of a taxon in a taxonomic hierarchy (for example, all families are intended for nomenclature purposes in the same rank, which is between the superfamily and subfamily). The ranks of the family group, the group of genus and species, the group in which nominal taxa can be established are set out in Articles 10.3, 10.4, 35.1, 42.1 and 45.1. International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1999)
Linnaeus
The modern classification has its roots in the system of C. Linnaeus, who grouped species in accordance with general physical characteristics. A similar distribution of genera and species in the animal and plant world was made to reflect the Darwinian principle of general descent.
Differentiating the classification based on Linnaeus, which is used for biological designation, and modern taxonomy proposed by the Decandol, scientists distinguish between taxa / taxonomy and classification / taxonomy. The first relates to biological names and naming rules. The combination of the latter refers to the ranking of taxa in accordance with the proposed evolutionary (phylogenetic) relationships.
The rank of the body is relative and limited to a certain systematic scheme. For example, liverworts were grouped in various classification systems as family, order, class, or division (type). Crustaceans (Crustacea) are grouped differently as phylum, subphilus, superclass or class. Many animal taxa have also undergone a variety of changes over time.
Disputes
The use of a set of ranks is disputed by users of the cladistics (translated from Greek, “cladistics” is “branch”). In addition, the rank of the class is often not evolutionary, and the phenetic and paraphyletic group, unlike those steps that are controlled by ICZN, cannot be made monophyletic by exchanging the taxa contained in them. This led to phylogenetic taxonomy and the continued development of the Philocode (scientific digest), which should regulate the use of taxa in species.
Carl Linney developed a linear taxonomy using a six-level ranking scale: kingdom, class, order, gender, species and diversity. Today's animal taxa are still very similar to the Linnaeus scale, with the addition of two main ranks and family (with a de-emphasis on diversity). The nomenclature is regulated by codes that are suitable for this, but, despite this, there are slightly different titles for zoology and botany.
Both in zoology and in botany, systematic taxa are usually assigned a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy, and organisms are identified by combining the two main ones in the modern nomenclature: genus and species. The resulting two-word binomial name is the world used to describe a particular species. For example, a person’s binomial name is Homo sapiens. This is shown in italics when typing and is emphasized when recording. The first word refers to the genus, which is a wide group of closely related species. The second lowercase word always indicates the species by which the body is designated in its own way. For example, we know the butterfly Samia Cynthia (Aylan silkworm).
Its taxon order is:
- Kingdom: Animals.
- Type: Arthropods.
- Class: Insects.
- Order: Lepidoptera.
- Suborder: Proboscis.
- Family: Peacock-eye.
- Subfamily: Arsenurinae.
- Rod: Samia.
- Species: Aylan silkworm.
Completion
In the end, I want to say that many scientists are trying to challenge the current established traditions of taxonomy, but they do not succeed. This is due to the fact that the classification of species based on the ruler of Carl Linnaeus has proved to be the most effective and suitable for work.
It is interesting to know: sometimes the incorrect pronunciation of the names of foreign brands in Russian introduces confusion in the minds of people. For example, translate the famous brand of Japanese cars Hyundai Tucson as "Hyundai-Tucson." In this case, the word "taxon" does not apply to biological categories.