Genus
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In biology, a '''genus''' (plural '''genera''') is a grouping in the classification of living organisms having one or more related and Morphology (biology)|morphologically similar species (biology)|species. In the common binomial nomenclature, the name of an organism is composed of two parts: its genus (always capitalized) and a species modifier. An example is ''Homo sapiens'', the name for the human|human species which belongs to the genus ''Homo (genus)|Homo''. See scientific classification for more details of this system.
The '''biological type|type genus''' of a taxon is usually the first genus to be named and described. Family (biology)|Families, and in plants all taxa up to Division (biology)|division, are named after the type genus. The genus and these higher taxa are typified by a specimen that shows the characteristics of the genus. The specimen used to describe this species is preserved as the holotype and designated as a '''generitype''' in a zoological museum or a herbarium to be available for further study.
A generic name in one kingdom (biology)|kingdom is allowed to bear the same name as a genus or other taxon name in another kingdom (though this is discouraged by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature). For instance, ''Anura'' is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae and the order of frogs; ''Aotus'' is the genus of Aotus (pea)|golden peas and night monkeys; ''Oenanthe'' is the genus of wheatears and water dropworts, and ''Prunella'' is the genus of accentors and self-heal. It is, however, not allowed for two genera within the same kingdom to have the same name. This explains why the platypus genus is ''Ornithorhynchus'' — although the name ''Platypus'' was chosen by George Shaw in 1799, that name had already been given to the ambrosia beetle by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst in 1793. Since beetles and platypuses are both member of the kingdom Animalia, the name ''Platypus'' could not be used for both. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach published the replacement name ''Ornithorhynchus'' in 1800.
See also
Linnaean taxonomy
Cladistics
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