Tribe (taxonomy)

LifeDomainKingdomPhylumClassOrderFamilyGenusSpecies
The hierarchy of biological classification's eight major taxonomic ranks. Intermediate minor rankings are not shown.

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank above genus, but below family and subfamily. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes. By convention, taxa ranked above species are capitalized, including tribes and subtribes.

History

The taxonomic rank of tribe was not introduced by a single identifiable author. Although Carl Linnaeus established the basis of the hierarchical classification system used in modern biology, he consistently employed only five prinipal ranks: kingdom, class, order, genus, and species. Later naturalists expanded this hierarchy by introducing additional ranks, including family and tribe.

In zoology, the term tribe was already being used in the 18th century, but its hierarchical position was not yet standardized. In his 1777 work, Introductio ad historiam naturalem, Giovanni Antonio Scopoli assigned the name Amphibia to the rank of tribe, whereas Linnaeus had classified a similar group as a class. Historical studies of zoological nomenclature note that some early authors placed tribes above the rank of order, while others used the term for groups between order and family. Consequently, these early usages did not always correspond to the modern position of tribe below family and above genus.

In botany, Adrien-Henri de Jussieu proposed the name Zanthoxyleae in 1827 without explicitly assigning it a taxonomic rank. In 1829, Barthélemy Charles Joseph Dumortier explicitly assigned the name to the rank of tribe, an early documented example of its formal use in botanical nomenclature.

The rank subsequently became part of the standardized hierarchies used in biological classification. Its nomenclatural conventions differ among zoology, botany, and bacteriology. In modern zoology, tribe is one of the ranks within the family group, alongside superfamily, family, subfamily, and subtribe.

Rank recognition

An unfamiliar taxonomic rank cannot necessarily be identified as a tribe merely by the presence of one of the standard suffixes:

Accordingly, working within animals alone, subfamily -inae, tribe -ini, and subtribe -ina are unique suffixes to their specific taxonomic ranks. At the other extreme, working within algae alone, -eae suffixes class -phyceae, suborder -ineae, family -aceae, subfamily -oideae, and tribe -eae. The longer suffixes themselves suffixed with -eae must first be eliminated before recognizing an unfamiliar -eae designation as belonging to rank tribe.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Italics in section "Rank recognition" indicate lexical rather than taxonomic distinctions.

References

  1. ↑ McNeill, J.; Barrie, F. R.; Buck, W. R.; Demoulin, V.; Greuter, W.; Hawksworth, D. L.; Herendeen, P. S.; Knapp, S.; Marhold, K.; Prado, J.; Prud'homme Van Reine, W. F.; Smith, G.F.; Wiersema, J. H.; Turland, N. J. (2012), International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) adopted by the Eighteenth International Botanical Congress Melbourne, Australia, July 2011, vol. Regnum Vegetabile 154, A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG, ISBN 978-3-87429-425-6 Article 4
  2. 1 2 International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1999). International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Fourth ed.). International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, XXIX. pp. 306. ISBN 9780853010067.
  3. 1 2 de Queiroz, Kevin (2012). "Biological Nomenclature from Linnaeus to the PhyloCode" (PDF). Bibliotheca Herpetologica. 9 (1–2): 135–145.
  4. 1 2 Dubois, Alain; Bour, Roger (2010). "The distinction between family-series and class-series nomina in zoological nomenclature, with emphasis on the nomina created by Batsch (1788, 1789) and on the higher nomenclature of turtles" (PDF). Bonn Zoological Bulletin. 57 (2): 149–171.
  5. ↑ Turland, N. J.; et al. (2025). "Article 37". International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Madrid Code). Regnum Vegetabile, Vol. 162. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-3-946583-16-5. Retrieved 25 October 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Turland, N. J.; Wiersema, J. H.; Barrie, F.R.; Greuter, W. (2011), Best practice in the use of the scientific names of animals: Support for editors of technical journals. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 68(4): 313–322. Article 29
  7. 1 2 Turland, N. J.; Wiersema, J. H.; Barrie, F. R.; Greuter, W.; Hawksworth, D. L.; Herendeen, P.S.; Knapp, S.; Kusber, W.-H.; Li, D.-Z.; Marhold, K.; May, T. W.; McNeill, J.; Monro, A. M.; Prado, J.; Price, M. J.; Smith, G. F. (2017), International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017, Regnum Vegetabile, vol. Regnum Vegetabile 159, Glashütten: Koeltz Botanical Books, doi:10.12705/Code.2018, hdl:10141/622572, ISBN 9783946583165, S2CID 83550499{{citation}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) Article 16
  8. 1 2 Turland, N. J.; Wiersema, J. H.; Barrie, F.R.; Greuter, W.; Hawksworth, D.L.; Herendeen, P.S.; Knapp, S.; Kusber, W.-H.; Li, D.-Z.; Marhold, K.; May, T. W.; McNeill, J.; Monro, A. M.; Prado, J.; Price, M. J.; Smith, G. F. (2017), International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017, Regnum Vegetabile, vol. Regnum Vegetabile 159, Glashütten: Koeltz Botanical Books, doi:10.12705/Code.2018, hdl:10141/622572, ISBN 9783946583165, S2CID 83550499{{citation}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link) Article 19