Family:

The Family is one of the hierarchical ranks in Linnean taxonomy and classification systems.  In rank level, it is between Genus and Order, but is frequently bracketed by the intermediate ranks of Subfamily and Superfamily.

The assignment of genera to families is proposed and defended, based on currently available evidence, by authorities with expertise in the discipline.  Sometimes, proposed changes in family assignments are not generally accepted, or they may not have been noticed, with the result that parallel classification assignments may occur concurrently in the literature.

Family assignments of nematodes evolve with insights provided by new species descriptions, by authorities with different perspectives regarding the relative evolutionary and relationship importance of certain characters, and through the elevation and combination of families and subfamilies

Family names have a Latinized root, which may be descriptive of a location, habitat, behavior or honorific.  In Nematology, family names end in “idae”, subfamily names in “inae”, and superfamily names in “oidea”.

As the discipline of Nematology evolves, the classification of genera into subfamilies and families will stabilize. However, in the 21st century we can expect ongoing changes in family assignments and classification systems with the merger of molecular analyses and systems based on anatomical features and morphometric data.

Click Browser Return Arrow to return to the Genus Names Table