Least-inclusive taxonomic unit

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Least- Inclusive Taxonomic Unit (LITU) is a taxonomic concept that was developed and presented in 2000 by Fredrik Pleijel and Greg W. Rouse . They present the LITU as an alternative to the species concept , which in their opinion is no longer tenable due to phylogenetic considerations. The least-inclusive taxonomic unit is defined as the smallest recognizable taxon and thus as the smallest closed unit within the biological system. All higher taxa should build encaptically on this unit by forming monophyletic groups of the next smaller unit up to the LITU.

swell

  • F. Pleijel, GW Rouse: Least-inclusive taxonomic unit: a new taxonomic concept for biology. Proceedings of the Royal Society London, Series B Biological Sciences 267, 2000; Pages 627 to 630