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Understanding Genus in Biological Classification

This quiz tests your knowledge of the concept of genus in biological classification, including its role in nomenclature and examples of species.

#Biology #Taxonomy #Genus #Nomenclature #Classification

1 It plays a pivotal role in ________, the system of biological nomenclature.

2 In ________, a genus (plural: genera) is a taxonomic unit (a taxon) used in the classification of living and fossil organisms.

3 In the hierarchy of the binomial classification system, genus comes above ________ and below family.

4 Similarly, Canis lupus familiaris is the scientific name for the ________.

5 For example, Canis lupus is the scientific name of the ________, 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).

6 In zoology this is the type species (see ________); the generic name is permanently associated with the type specimen of its type species.

7 See ________ and Nomenclature Codes for more details of this system.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the Doctorfish tang has the largest range of its genus, which includes 38 species from three oceans.
  • the Golden-scruffy Collybia mushroom has been placed in 14 different genera.
  • the Chinese box turtle (pictured) has at least four common names, and there is debate over its genus classification.
  • the Flammulated Flycatcher (pictured), a tyrant flycatcher endemic to Mexico, was eventually placed in the monotypic genus Deltarhynchus because of its broad bill.
  • the flora of Western Australia (floral emblem pictured) comprises 9437 native vascular plant species of 1543 genera within 226 families.
  • the pipits (species pictured) are a genus, Anthus, of songbirds that evolved in East Asia during the Miocene before spreading around the world.
  • the Mindoro stripe-faced fruit bat is only the second species in its genus and the 26th endemic bat species from the Philippines to be described.
  • the Long-tailed Broadbill is the only bird in the genus Psarisomus.
  • the Atlantic bumper is only found in the Atlantic Ocean because its ecological niche is filled by the only other member of its genus elsewhere.
  • the African pompano (pictured), a tropical marine game fish, is not a pompano, but belongs to the genus Alectis.
  • the genus Melampitta is a taxonomic mystery, having been considered at one time either belonging to the pitta, babbler, logrunner, bird of paradise, or cinclosomatid families.
  • the genus Entomocorus includes a catfish species that lives only one year.
  • the genus Brachyplatystoma includes many large species of Amazonian catfish, including one which may reach about 3.6 metres (almost 12 feet) in length.
  • the genus Platax, composed of five species of marine batfishes (orbicular batfish pictured), used to include the freshwater angelfish.
  • the genus name of the commonly grown Australian garden plants Dianella caerulea and D. tasmanica is derived from the goddess Diana.
  • the prosauropod dinosaur Efraasia was misidentified at least four times before being recognized as a separate genus.
  • the marmoset genus Mico (Mico argentatus pictured) was formerly considered a subgenus of Callithrix.
  • the lionfish genus Parapterois includes P. heterura, an attractive species uncommon in the aquarium trade, and the poorly known P. macrura.
  • the whitefin, Cook's, Australian reticulate, spotted, leopard-spotted, painted, flagtail, speckled, saddled, and narrowbar swellsharks were all scientifically described in 2008, more than doubling the number of species in the genus Cephaloscyllium (example pictured).
  • the Magosternarchus genus of knifefish eats the tails of other knifefish, and many specimens have been found with regenerated tails.
  • the plant genus Regelia is named after the 19th-century Russian botanist Eduard August von Regel and is found only in Australia.
  • the number of species in the rodent genus Oryzomys was reduced from 43 to 5 in 2006.
  • the number of recognized species of palm trees in the genus Hydriastele has jumped from 9 to 48 in the last four years.
  • the prehistoric badger genus Chamitataxus lived during the Late Miocene and is considered the most primitive badger genus in North America.
  • the small, torpedo-shaped marine cleaner fish of the genus Elacatinus (pictured) are known as neon gobies due to their iridescent stripes.
  • when severely disturbed, catfish of the genus Acrochordonichthys may release a milky-white mucus-like substance that can kill other fish.
  • two former species of Oioceros, O. grangeri and O. xiejiaensis, have been recently identified as separate genera.
  • though clavarioid fungi were originally thought to comprise a single genus, they are now classified in multiple orders and families.
  • the newly-named Oryctodromeus, a genus of small herbivorous dinosaur from the mid Cretaceous of Montana, is the first dinosaur described as making burrows.
  • the name of the Lasiognathus genus of anglerfish (L. amphirhampus pictured), distinctive for its huge upper jaw, derives from the Greek for "hairy jaw".
  • the exact species for which the fish genus Carangoides (C. orthogrammus pictured) was originally created is unknown.
  • the decline of the gopher tortoise poses a threat to the Florida mouse, which forms the only mammal genus that occurs only in Florida.
  • the Nephila genus of long-jawed orb weaver family of spiders spins gold-colored webs.
  • the extinct sweat bee genus Oligochlora contains six species all known from the Dominican amber deposits on Hispaniola.
  • the first egg laid in a clutch by Crested penguins (pictured) of the genus Eudyptes is as little as 60% of the size of the second egg.
  • the name of the liverwort genus Ptilidium comes from the Greek word ptilidion for "small feather", a reference to the plant's "feathery" appearance.
  • the name of the flowering plant genus Tetracarpaea refers to its four conspicuous and separate carpels.
  • the ground living warblers in the genus Tesia appear to almost lack a tail and have very long legs.
  • the genera Bergerocactus and Bergeranthus are named after Alwin Berger, a German botanist best known for his contribution to the nomenclature of succulent plants, particularly agaves and cacti.
  • the Early Cretaceous turtle Caririemys was the fifth such turtle genus to have been discovered in Brazil's Santana Formation.
  • Microphallus is a genus of parasitic trematode, some species of which are notable for the manipulation of the behaviour and growth of their hosts.
  • Melidectes is a genus of honeyeater birds endemic to the mountains of New Guinea and New Britain.
  • Hypancistrus is a genus of catfish with suckermouths, including popular aquarium fish such as the zebra pleco.
  • Momotus is a genus of green and blue birds with raquet-shaped tails.
  • Polyandrococos, a genus of palm trees endemic to Brazil, is so named partly because of its hairy tomentum.
  • Thyrocopa is a genus of flightless moth endemic to Hawaii.
  • Sorubim is a genus of catfish with shovel-shaped long noses.
  • Prionochilus is one of the two genera that comprise the flowerpecker family Dicaeidae (Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker pictured).
  • Washingtonia is a genus of palm and produces a fruit, eaten by Native American people as a minor food source and by birds.
  • Pluma porgies are the most common member of the genus Calamus in the Antilles, where they are often used for food.
  • fishes from the genus Alepes are characterised by a curve in their lateral line.
  • catfish of the genus Leporacanthicus are also known as vampire plecostomus because of the presence of very long teeth on their upper jaw.
  • catfish of the genus Dekeyseria can rapidly change their colouration to fit their mood or their surroundings.
  • genus Inimicus includes highly venomous benthic stonefishes, such as Inimicus filamentosus (pictured), which use their pectoral fins as legs to walk on the seabed.
  • moss of the genus Polytrichum has adapted to trap moist air between rows of lamellae.
  • Kirill Eskov named a genus from the Linyphiidae spider family discovered by him in 1988 after Kikimora, a female spirit in Slavic mythology.
  • ice-minus bacteria, a variant of genus Pseudomonas, are useful in agriculture, because they can prevent the formation of ice on crops.
  • Archaeopotamus is the oldest well-identified genus of hippos, having lived 7.5 million to 1.8 million years ago.
  • Weraroa, a genus of pouch fungi, may represent an intermediate evolutionary stage between underground and above-ground fungi.
  • Bagrichthys macracanthus, the black lancer, is the only species of Bagrichthys, a genus of catfishes, that is traded in the aquarium hobby.
  • several mountains, a chain of craters, a learned society and a botanical genus are named after Louis Ramond de Carbonnières.
  • members of the genus Breitensteinia have a longer body than other stream catfishes due to an increase in number of vertebrae.
  • members of the catfish genus Auchenipterichthys are capable of producing sound.
  • species in the fungal genus Wynnea (W. americana, pictured) have asci that are capped by a hinged operculum.
  • the 25 species of Goodyera comprise just one of over 800 genera of orchids.
  • the catfish of the genus Batasio are found in fast-flowing hillstreams throughout South and mainland Southeast Asia.
  • the catfish genus Steindachneridion was named after its discoverer, the Austrian zoologist Franz Steindachner.
  • the catfish genus Hemiancistrus currently includes species of two other undescribed genera.
  • male and female Sternarchogiton nattereri knifefish are so different that males were thought to be members of a different genus for 40 years.
  • because it is difficult to approach, the nymphalid butterfly Euptoieta claudia was given a genus name which means "easily scared" in Greek.
  • a catfish of the genus Helogenes is known to jump out of the stream during rotenone fishing by locals, and jump back afterwards.
  • Terminonatator ponteixensis is the type and only species described for Terminonatator, a genus of elasmosaurid plesiosaur from Late Cretaceous of Saskatchewan, Canada.
  • Horabagrus brachysoma, an endangered species of the genus Horabagrus, has been considered a potential flagship species for media attention to provide a focus for wildlife conservation of inland biodiversity.
  • all five species of the catfish genus Epactionotus are endemic to limited geographic areas in Brazil and Argentina.
  • although it was first classified as a reptile, the extinct genus Batropetes (restoration pictured) is now known to be a microsaur amphibian.
  • although the first Callawayasaurus fossil was discovered in 1962, it was not until 1999 that they were recognized as a separate genus.
  • although the genus Hesperomys once included most of the cricetid rodents of the Americas, it is now no longer used.
  • catfish species of the genus Hypophthalmus are unusual among neotropical fishes because they feed on plankton by straining water over a fine sieve created by numerous long, thin gill rakers.
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