Type Species - in Zoology

In Zoology

The term "type species" is regulated in zoological nomenclature by article 42.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which defines a type species as the name-bearing type of the name of a genus or subgenus (a "genus-group name") is the "type species". In the Glossary, type species is defined as

"The nominal species that is the name-bearing type of a nominal genus or subgenus".

The type species permanently attaches a genus to its formal name (its generic name) by providing just one species within that genus to which the genus is permanently linked (i.e. the genus must include that species if it is to bear the name). The species name in turn is fixed, in theory, to a type specimen.

For example, the type species for the land snail genus Monacha is Monacha cartusiana. That genus is currently placed within the family Hygromiidae. The type genus for that family is the genus Hygromia.

The concept of the type species in zoology was introduced by Pierre André Latreille.