''Manticavirus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

viruses A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...

in the subfamily ''

Gammaherpesvirinae ''Gammaherpesvirinae'' is a subfamily of viruses in the order ''Herpesvirales'' and in the family ''Herpesviridae''. Viruses in ''Gammaherpesvirinae'' are distinguished by reproducing at a more variable rate than other subfamilies of ''Herpesvir ...

'', in the family ''

Herpesviridae ''Herpesviridae'' is a large family of DNA viruses that cause infections and certain diseases in animals, including humans. The members of this family are also known as herpesviruses. The family name is derived from the Greek word ''ἕρπειν ...

'', in the order ''

Herpesvirales The ''Herpesvirales'' is an order of dsDNA viruses (Baltimore group I) with animal hosts, characterised by a common morphology consisting of an icosahedral capsid enclosed in a glycoprotein-containing lipid envelope. Common infections in humans c ...

.'' This genus was the only genus to consist entirely of marsupial-hosted species as of the time of naming, hence the name component ''Mantica'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''knapsack''), in reference to the

marsupial pouch The pouch is a distinguishing feature of female marsupials, monotremes and possibly most extinct non-placental mammals including eutherians like ''Zalambdalestes'' (and rarely in the males as in the water opossumNogueira, José Carlos, et al.Mor ...

Species

The genus includes the following species: * '' Phascolarctid gammaherpesvirus 1'' * '' Vombatid gammaherpesvirus 1''

References

Gammaherpesvirinae Virus genera {{Virus-stub