Question

Define a taxon. Give some example of taxa at different hierarchical levels.

Answer 1

A taxonomic unit in the biological system of classification of organisms is called taxon (plural taxa). For example a phylum, order, family, genus or species each represents a taxon. It represents a rank. Taxon of class category for birds is Aves and taxon of Phylum category for birds is Chordata. The degree of relationship and degree of similarity varies with the rank of the taxon. Individuals of a higher rank, say Order or Family, are less closely related than those of a lower rank, such as Genus or Species.