[Taxacom] species -group (was Asterales)

[Laurent Raty]

"Group" ("groupe" in French) initially used to be defined as:
"In nomenclature, an assemblage of co-ordinate categories. The three 
groups recognized in this Code are the family-group [Art. 35], the 
genus-group [Art. 42], and the species-group [Art. 45], each named after 
its basic category."
(Glossary of the 1961 & 1964 editions of the Code)

In the Glossary of the 1985 ed., the definition became "An assemblage of 
taxa. See also family group, genus group, and species group." Thus the 
general definition of the word as referring to an assemblage of 
coordinate categories disappeared. When the word is used as in "a name 
of the species group", the meaning is still this very one, I would 
think, though.

The the last, 1999 edition, is actually quite odd in this respect.
The English text is similar to that of 1985, but the French text was 
changed: there, the word "groupe" is not used with the old meaning 
anymore (except once, in Art. 61.4--an apparent oversight); it is 
replaced with the word "niveau". (Thus, in French, instead of 
"species-group", we now discuss "species-level". Talk about loaded 
terms...) "Niveau" receives an entry in the Glossaire, that has no 
equivalent in the English Glossary, with a definition that is basically 
the same as that which used to be given to "group" in the 1961-4 Codes:
"Séquence de catégories coordonnées, dans la hiérarchie de la 
classification. [Terme défini à l'Art. 1.2.2]. Le Code admet trois 
niveaux (donnés ci-après par ordre hiérarchique décroissant), chacun 
pouvant avoir des règles nomenclaturales particulières. [Angl.: group.]"
(Notice the "Angl.: group." at  the end: so here we have an English word 
that appears to be given an additional definition, albeit in French only...)

Laurent -


On 03/14/2012 11:32 AM, Thomas Pape wrote:
> The term "group" is used in zoological nomenclature for an assemblage of
> taxa. By combining this term with either "species", "genus" or "family",
> you will delimit the assemblage to be within a fixed range in the
> hierarchy of classification. Species-group taxa (or ditto names) will
> then include taxa (or names) at the rank of species and subspecies.
>
> /Thomas Pape