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| The Linnaean System | ||
| Systematics | Family |
| Systematics | Taxonomy |
| Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species |
In the Linnaean system (and taxonomic systems based on it), the Family is a taxonomic category between Order and Tribe. It might seem strange that a family is considered higher than a tribe (i.e. a family can contain many tribes, but not vice versa), but such is the way these names are. When there are no Tribes, the Family is a taxonomic category between Order and Genus. More even then an order, a family is a group of organisms among which the differences are quite minor, e.g. Equidae - horses and their relatives, Ceratopsidae
- horned dinosaurs, or Hominidae, man and ape-men. Some families contain thousands of species, others might only have a single species. Note: Although again the differences among Hominids are extremely slight, here we see a chauvinistic taxonomic inflation, elevated a probably genus rank to family ranking; more recently cladistics, with its preference for giving each recognised branching point its own linnaean rank (which can be problematic if a cladogram contains dozens of nested nodes) has taken this to the other direction, reducing hominids as traditionally defined to the status as of a subtribe. |
| rank | suffix |
| Magnafamily | -idea |
| Superfamily | -oidea or -acea |
| Epifamily | -oidae |
| Family | -idae |
| Subfamily | -inae |