Division (biology)

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Categories: Biology stubs | Scientific classification | Botanical nomenclature

This article discusses categorisations of organisms. For a different meaning in biology, see cell division.

In biology, the equivalent of a phylum in the plant or the fungal kingdom is called a division.

The main plant divisions, in the order in which they probably evolved, are the liverworts (Division Marchantiophyta), the hornworts (Division Anthocerophyta), the mosses (Division Bryophyta), the ferns (Division Filicophyta), the horsetails (Division Sphenophyta), the cycads (Division Cycadophyta), the ginkgo (Division Ginkgophyta), the conifers (Division Pinophyta), the gnetophytes (Division Gnetophyta), and the angiosperms (Division Magnoliophyta). Angiosperms are the flowering plants that now dominate the plant world (80% of all vascular plants are angiosperms).

In zoology, the term division is applied to an optional rank subordinate to the infraclass and superordinate to the cohort. A widely used classification (e.g. Carroll 1988) recognises teleost fishes as a Division Teleostei within Class Actinopterygii (the ray-finned fishes). Less commonly (as in Milner 1988), living tetrapods are ranked as Divisions Amphibia and Amniota within the clade of vertebrates with fleshy limbs (Sarcopterygii).

References

Carroll, Robert L. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. New York: W.H. Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-716-7-1822-7.
Milner, Andrew. 1988. "The relationships and origin of living amphibians." In M.J. Benton (ed.), The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, Volume 1: Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, pp. 59-102. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

v • d • e Taxonomic ranks
Domain or				Magnorder
Superkingdom	Superphylum/Superdivision	Superclass		Superorder	Superfamily			Superspecies
Kingdom	Phylum/Division	Class		Order	Family	Tribe	Genus	Species
Subkingdom	Subphylum	Subclass	Cohort	Suborder	Subfamily	Subtribe	Subgenus	Subspecies
Branch	Infraphylum	Infraclass	Legion	Infraorder		Alliance		Infraspecies
	Microphylum	Parvclass		Parvorder