In biology, a genus (plural: genera) is a taxonomic unit (a taxon) used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender",[1] cognate with Greek: γένος – genos, "race, stock, kin".[2]
The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks. A family contains one or more genera. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown.
The composition of a genus is determined by a taxonomist. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, and hence different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. In the hierarchy of the binomial classification system, genus comes above species and below family.
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