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See genus (music) for the use of the term in music.

In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a grouping in the classification of living organisms having one or more related and morphologically similar species. In the common binomial nomenclature, the name of an organism is composed of two parts: its genus (always capitalized) and a species modifier. An example is Homo sapiens, the name for the human species which belongs to the genus Homo. See scientific classification for more details of this system.

The type genus of a taxon is usually the first genus to be named and described. Families, and in plants all taxa up to division, are named after the type genus. The genus and these higher taxa are typified by a specimen that shows the characteristics of the genus. The specimen used to describe this species is preserved as the holotype and designated as a generitype in a zoological museum or a herbariumIn Botany, a herbarium is a collection of preserved plants or plant parts, mainly in a dried form. These specimens are often used as the reference material to define a plant taxon; they contain the holotypes for these plants. A herbarium can also be a bui to be available for further study.

A genus name in one kingdomIn biology, a kingdom is the top-level, or nearly the top-level, grouping of organisms in scientific classification. Originally two kingdoms were distinguished: the Animalia for animals, and the Vegetabilia or Plantae for plants. Early authors also treate is allowed to bear the same name as a genus or other taxon name in another kingdom. For instance, AnuraArchaeobatrachia Mesobatrachia Neobatrachia The Anura is the order of animals in the class Amphibia that includes frogs and toads. Although distinctions can be made between frogs and toads, those distinctions have no scientific status. The living Anura ar is a genus of plants as well as the order of frogs; AotusAotus is both a plant and an animal: Golden pea in Fabaceae (bean family) Owl Monkey in Nyctipithecidae (night monkey family) The name means "earless" in both cases: the monkey is missing external ears, and the pea is missing earlike bracteoles. is both a pea and a monkey; Oenanthe and Oenanthe are genera of birds and plants respectively, as are PrunellaPrunella ( Vieillot, 1816) The accentors are in the only bird family, Prunellidae, which is completely endemic to the Palearctic. This small group of closely related passerines are all in a single genus Prunella''. All but the Dunnock and the Japanese Acc and PrunellaSelf-heal : Plantae : Magnoliophyta : Magnoliopsida : Lamiales : Lamiaceae Prunella Species Seven species, including: Prunella grandiflora (Large Self-heal) Prunella laciniata (Cut-leaf Self-heal) Prunella vulgaris (Common Self-heal) The self-heals are a. It is, however, not allowed for two genera within the same kingdom to have the same name. This explains why the Duck-billed Platypus is called Ornithorhynchus; although Platypus was originally chosen for it, the name had already been given to the ambrosia beetle, an invertebrate. Invertebrates are in the same kingdom, Animalia, as the platypus so could not be used again for a different animal.

See also: Linnaean taxonomy, cladistics