Legion (biology)

Life Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown.

The legion, in biological classification, is a non-obligatory taxonomic rank within the Linnaean hierarchy sometimes used in zoology.

Taxonomic rank

In zoological taxonomy, the legion is:

  1. subordinate to the class
  2. superordinate to the cohort.
  3. consists of a group of related orders

Legions may be grouped into superlegions or subdivided into sublegions, and these again into infralegions.

Use in zoology

Legions and their super/sub/infra groups have been employed in some classifications of birds and mammals. Full use is made of all of these (along with cohorts and supercohorts) in, for example, McKenna and Bell's classification of mammals.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ McKenna, Malcolm C. and Susan K. Bell (editors). 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11013-8
Look up legion#noun in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Taxonomic ranks
Magnorder Section (zoo.)
Domain/Superkingdom Superphylum/Superdivision Superclass Superorder Superfamily Supertribe
Kingdom Phylum/Division Class Legion Order Family Tribe Genus Species
Subkingdom Subphylum Subclass Cohort Suborder Subfamily Subtribe Subgenus Subspecies
Infrakingdom/Branch Infraphylum Infraclass Infraorder Section (bot.) Variety
Microphylum Parvclass Parvorder Series Form


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.