Form (biology)

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Form is a technical term used in biological systematics ; however, it is used very differently in the biological fields of botany and zoology .

botany

In the botanical system, form is a rank below the species , or as a taxon a circumscribed group of living beings at this rank. The form follows in descending order of priority of systematic units according to species, subspecies and variety ; below this is the sub-form . The abbreviation for form is f. (from Latin forma ); the abbreviation for subform is subf. (from Latin subforma ).

The term form is rarely used in botany today; it is mostly used - unlike in the rules of botanical nomenclature - in trade and by collectors to mark visual deviations, e.g. B. special colors like variegated leaves.

zoology

In zoology, the designation form is not covered by the nomenclature rules. However, it is also used in scientific publications to identify variants that differ from the type , for example color morphing . So z. B. the dark variant of the black moth is called Biston betularia forma carbonaria , the differently colored summer generation of the map as Araschnia levana forma prorsa . The long-winged variant of a beetle species with otherwise shortened hind wings is often referred to as "forma macroptera". Forma is - as in botany - often abbreviated as "f." They can, but need not necessarily, form a community of descent or a taxon, but the different characteristic can be ecologically significant, for example.

In the past, zoologists used numerous other terms to describe variants within species. They sometimes differentiated between aberrations or morphs (individual deviations), varieties and shapes (systematic deviations). Before 1960 varieties could (var.) Or forms (f.) Are considered equally with subspecies than those described taxa are considered "valid" described and introduced this name nomenclaturally "available" when the respective clans later to the rank of Subspecies or species have been or will be raised. However, this only applies if the author has not expressly defined them as being below a subspecies.

Pets as a form

While regional populations of wild animals , which differ in various characteristics, are marked as subspecies , the habitat of domestic animals does not represent a geographically uniform area. The criteria for the breakdown of subspecies can therefore not be applied here. Domestic animals are to be understood as a sub-unit of a wild form that does not reach the rank of a subspecies. At international zoological congresses, it was therefore decided to remove domestic animals from the zoological system. In the zoological system, domestic animals are referred to as the "forma" of wild species. For example, the domestic dog is given the name Canis lupus forma familiaris as the domesticated form of the wolf ( Canis lupus ) .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gordon Gordh & David Headricks: A Dictionary of Entomology. CABI, 2001. ISBN 978-0-85199-291-4 on p. 369
  2. ↑ International Code of Zoological Nomenclature online, Article 45
  3. ↑ Steven W. Lingafelter & Eugenio H. Nearns (2013): Elucidating Article 45.6 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature: A dichotomous key for the determination of subspecific or infrasubspecific rank. Zootaxa 3709 (6): 597-600.
  4. ↑ Dorit Feddersen-Petersen: What is a breed? Scientific study on the "uniformity" of dog breeds ( Memento from April 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )