Genus

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In biology, a genus /ˈdʒiːnəs/ (plural: genera) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

e.g., Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii are two species within the genus Pongo. Pongo is a genus within the family Hominidae.

The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however,^[1] including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful:

1. monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together;
2. reasonable compactness – a genus should not be expanded needlessly; and
3. distinctness – with respect to evolutionarily relevant criteria, i.e. ecology, morphology, or biogeography; note that DNA sequences are a consequence rather than a condition of diverging evolutionary lineages except in cases where they directly inhibit gene flow (e.g. postzygotic barriers).

The term comes from the Latin genus meaning "descent, family, type, gender",^[2] cognate with Ancient Greek: γένος – genos, "race, stock, kin".^[3]

The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks. A family contains one or more genera. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown.

Historic

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708), a French botanist, is considered "the founder of the modern concept of genera".^[4]

Generic name

The scientific name of a genus may be called the generic name or generic epithet: it is always capitalized. It plays a pivotal role in binomial nomenclature, the system of naming organisms.

Binomial nomenclature

The rules for scientific names are laid down in the Nomenclature Codes; depending on the kind of organism and the Kingdom it belongs to, a different Code may apply, with different rules, laid down in a different terminology. The advantages of scientific over common names are that they are accepted by speakers of all languages, and that each species has only one name. This reduces the confusion that may arise from the use of a common name to designate different things in different places (example elk), or from the existence of several common names for a single species.It is possible for a genus to be assigned to a kingdom governed by one particular Nomenclature Code by one taxonomist, while other taxonomists assign it to a kingdom governed by a different Code, but this is the exception, not the rule.

Pivotal in binomial nomenclature

The generic name is a component of the names of taxa of lower rank. For example, Canis lupus is the binomial name of the Gray wolf, a species, with Canis the generic name for the dog and its close relatives, and with lupus particular (specific) for the wolf (lupus is written in lower case).

The generic name also forms part of the names of taxa within species, the infraspecific names used in botany, and the subspecies names used in zoology. For example:

• a third name is sometimes added (in zoology) to indicate a sub-species, Canis lupus is a gray wolf, but Canis lupus familiaris is the scientific name for the domestic dog which remains closely related enough to be considered part of the same species which has enough differences from other members of the species to justify the use of a subspecies name.
• Hibiscus brackenridgei subsp. mokuleianus is a subspecies of Hibiscus brackenridgei, a species in the genus Hibiscus.
• Crataegus azarolus var. aronia is a variety within the plant species Crataegus azarolus.

Taxonomic units in higher ranks frequently have a name that is based on a generic name, such as the family name Canidae, which is based on Canis. However, not all names in higher ranks are necessarily based on the name of a genus: for example, Carnivora is the name for the order to which the dog belongs.

Identical names used for different genera

A genus in one kingdom is allowed to bear a scientific name that is in use as a generic name (or the name of a taxon in another rank) in a kingdom that is governed by a different nomenclature code.
Names with the same form but applying to different taxa are called homonyms. Although this is discouraged by both the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, there are some five thousand such names in use in more than one kingdom. For instance, Anura is the name of the order of frogs but also is the name of a genus of plants (although not current: it is a synonym); Aotus is the genus of golden peas and night monkeys; Oenanthe is the genus of wheatears and water dropworts, Prunella is the genus of accentors and self-heal, and Proboscidea is the order of elephants and the genus of devil's claws.

Within the same kingdom one generic name can apply to only one genus. This explains why the platypus genus is named Ornithorhynchus—George Shaw named it Platypus in 1799, but the name Platypus had already been given to a group of ambrosia beetles by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1793. Since beetles and platypuses are both members of the kingdom Animalia, the name Platypus could not be used for both. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach published the replacement name Ornithorhynchus in 1800.

Types and genera

Because of the rules of scientific naming, or "binomial nomenclature", each genus should have a designated type, although in practice there is a backlog of older names that may not yet have a type.
In zoology this is the type species; the generic name is permanently associated with the type specimen of its type species. Should this specimen turn out to be assignable to another genus, the generic name linked to it becomes a junior synonym, and the remaining taxa in the former genus need to be reassessed.

See scientific classification and nomenclature codes for more details of this system. Also see type genus.

Nomenclature

...difficulties occurring in generic nomenclature: similar cases abound, and become complicated by the different views taken of the matter by the various taxonomists.

Prof. C. S. Rafinesque. 1836^[5]

None of the nomenclature codes require such criteria for defining a genus, because these are concerned with the nomenclature rules, not with taxonomy. These regulate formal nomenclature, aiming for universal and stable scientific names.