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In zoological nomenclature, a type species ( species typica) is the species considered to be permanently taxonomically associated with the name of a genus (or subgenus). This species acts as a fixed reference point for the genus and usually will not be changed. Article 67.1 Its purpose is to anchor the genus' name such that it always stays linked to the same species. This system provides consistency and stability to the group's identity in face of future taxonomic revisions. The type species does not need to represent the most characteristic or average member of the group, as long as it allows its genus to be distinguished from the others. A similar concept is used for other Taxonomic rank: the type specimen is the sole representative of a species, while the type genus represents a family.
In botanical nomenclature, scientific names also must be associated with a type according to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants for the same referencial purpose. International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) articles 7 through 10 (Melbourne Code, 2012) (2026). 9780123743800 ISBN 9780123743800
In bacteriology, a type species is assigned for each genus. Whether or not currently recognized as valid, every named genus or subgenus in zoology is theoretically associated with a type species. In practice, however, there is a backlog of untypified names defined in older publications when it was not required to specify a type.
The rule of genus typification was also included in the nomenclature of viruses; since 2021 it is not applied.
The term "type species" is regulated in zoological nomenclature by article 42.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which defines a type species as the name-bearing type of the name of a genus or subgenus (a "genus-group name"). In the Glossary, type species is defined as
The type species permanently attaches a formal name (the generic name) to a genus by providing just one species within that genus to which the genus name is permanently linked (i.e. the genus must include that species if it is to bear the name). The species name in turn is fixed, in theory, to a type specimen.
For example, the type species for the land snail genus Monacha is Helix cartusiana, the name under which the species was first described, known as Monacha cartusiana when placed in the genus Monacha. That genus is currently placed within the family Hygromiidae. The type genus for that family is the genus Hygromia.
The concept of the type species in zoology was introduced by Pierre André Latreille.
Although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants does not contain the same explicit statement, examples make it clear that the original name is used, so that the "type species" of a genus name need not have a name within that genus. Thus in Article 10, Ex. 3, the type of the genus name Elodes is quoted as the type of the species name Hypericum aegypticum, not as the type of the species name Elodes aegyptica. ( Elodes is not now considered distinct from Hypericum.)
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