Glossary · also genera
Genus
A rank below family: a group of closely related species. It is the first word of a scientific name.
Lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars all belong to the genus Panthera. The plural is genera. Genus names are written in italics with a capital letter.
Related terms
- Rank
- A level in the classification hierarchy, such as genus, family or order.
- Family
- A rank below order, gathering related genera. Animal family names end in -idae.
- Species
- The basic unit of classification: a group of organisms treated as one kind and given a two-part scientific name.
- Scientific name
- The formal two-part name of a species, written in italics: the genus, then the species.