CreatureData

Glossary · also taxa

Taxon

Any named group in a classification, at any rank: a species, a family, a class.

Taxon is the general word for a unit of classification; the plural is taxa. Felidae (a family) and Mammalia (a class) are both taxa. “Higher taxa” means the ranks above species.

Animalia, the animal kingdom

Related terms

Rank
A level in the classification hierarchy, such as genus, family or order.
Species
The basic unit of classification: a group of organisms treated as one kind and given a two-part scientific name.