Noun

taxa

1. Plural form of taxon.

Cuiba

Noun

taxa

1. father

Danish

Noun

taxa

1. taxi

French

Verb

taxa

1. Third-person singular past historic of taxer.

Anagrams

• Anagrams of aatx
• axât

Greenlandic

Noun

taxa

1. taxi

Portuguese

Wikipedia

Noun

taxa f.

1. rate (amount measured in relation to another amount)

This Portuguese entry was created from the translations listed at rate. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see taxa in the Portuguese Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) April 2009

A taxon (plural: taxa) is a group of (one or more) organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement. Defining what belongs or does not belong to such a taxonomic group is done by a taxonomist. It is not uncommon for one taxonomist to disagree with another on what exactly belongs to a taxon, or on what exact criteria should be used for inclusion.

Taxonomists sometimes make a distinction between "good" (or natural) taxa and others that are "not good" (or artificial). Today it is common to define a good taxon as one that reflects presumptive evolutionary (phylogenetic) relationships. But this is not mandatory.

A taxon may be given a formal name, a scientific name. Such a scientific name is governed by one of the Nomenclature Codes, which sets out rules to determine which scientific name is correct for that particular grouping.

Advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature, using cladistic methods, do require taxa to be monophyletic, consisting of all descendants of some ancestor. They generally do not refer to taxa as their basic unit, but to "clades", a clade being a special form of taxon. However, even in traditional nomenclature, few taxonomists of our time would establish new taxa that they know to be paraphyletic. A famous example of a widely accepted taxon that is not also a clade is the "Reptilia".