| Noun | 1. | taxonomic category - animal or plant group having natural relations Adapid, Adapid group - extinct small mostly diurnal lower primates that fed on leaves and fruit; abundant in North America and Europe 30 to 50 million years ago; their descendents probably include the lemurs; some authorities consider them ancestral to anthropoids but others consider them only cousins Omomyid, Omomyid group - extinct tiny nocturnal lower primates that fed on fruit and insects; abundant in North America and Europe 30 to 50 million years ago; probably gave rise to the tarsiers; some authorities consider them ancestral to anthropoids but others consider them only cousins kingdom - the highest taxonomic group into which organisms are grouped; one of five biological categories: Monera or Protoctista or Plantae or Fungi or Animalia subkingdom - (biology) a taxonomic group comprising a major division of a kingdom biological group - a group of plants or animals variety - (biology) a taxonomic category consisting of members of a species that differ from others of the same species in minor but heritable characteristics; "varieties are frequently recognized in botany" phylum - (biology) the major taxonomic group of animals and plants; contains classes subphylum - (biology) a taxonomic group ranking between a phylum and a class superphylum - (biology) a taxonomic group ranking between a phylum and below a class or subclass class - (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more orders subclass - (biology) a taxonomic category below a class and above an order superclass - (biology) a taxonomic class below a phylum and above a class order - (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more families suborder - (biology) taxonomic group that is a subdivision of an order superorder - (biology) a taxonomic group ranking above an order and below a class or subclass family - (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera; "sharks belong to the fish family" superfamily - (biology) a taxonomic group ranking below an order but above a family subfamily - (biology) a taxonomic category below a family tribe - (biology) a taxonomic category between a genus and a subfamily genus - (biology) taxonomic group containing one or more species subgenus - (biology) taxonomic group between a genus and a species monotype - (biology) a taxonomic group with a single member (a single species or genus) species - (biology) taxonomic group whose members can interbreed subspecies - (biology) a taxonomic group that is a division of a species; usually arises as a consequence of geographical isolation within a species var., variant, strain, form - (biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups; "a new strain of microorganisms" type - (biology) the taxonomic group whose characteristics are used to define the next higher taxon group Pteridospermae, group Pteridospermaphyta, Pteridospermae, Pteridospermaphyta - used in some classification systems: a group of extinct fossil gymnosperms coextensive with the order Cycadofilicales Centrospermae, group Centrospermae - used in former classification systems; approximately synonymous with order Caryophyllales Amentiferae, group Amentiferae - used in some classification systems for plants that bear catkins Phycomycetes, Phycomycetes group - a large and probably unnatural group of fungi and funguslike organisms comprising the Mastigomycota (including the Oomycetes) and Zygomycota subdivisions of the division Eumycota; a category not used in all systems |