The legion, in
biological classification
In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon), and these groups are give ...
, is a non-obligatory
taxonomic rank
In biology, taxonomic rank (which some authors prefer to call nomenclatural rank because ranking is part of nomenclature rather than taxonomy proper, according to some definitions of these terms) is the relative or absolute level of a group of or ...
within the
Linnaean hierarchy sometimes used in
zoology
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
.
Taxonomic rank
In
zoological taxonomy
image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy
Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...
, the legion is:
#subordinate to the
class
Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...
#superordinate to the
cohort.
#consists of a group of related
orders
Legions may be grouped into superlegions or subdivided into sublegions, and these again into infralegions.
Use in zoology
Legions and their super/sub/infra groups have been employed in some classifications of
birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
and
mammals. Full use is made of all of these (along with cohorts and supercohorts) in, for example,
McKenna and Bell's classification of mammals.
[ McKenna, Malcolm C. and Susan K. Bell (editors). 1997. ''Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level''. New York: Columbia University Press. ]
See also
*
Linnaean taxonomy
Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts:
# The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his ''Systema Naturae'' (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus th ...
*
Mammal classification
References
Biology terminology
Taxa by rank
rank08a
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