Subphylum

In zoological nomenclature, a subphylum is a taxonomic rank below the rank of phylum.

The taxonomic rank of 'subdivision' in fungi and plant taxonomy is equivalent to 'subphylum' in zoological taxonomy.

Taxonomic rank

Subphylum is:

Where convenient, subphyla in turn may be divided into infraphyla; in turn such an infraphylum also would be superordinate to any classes or superclasses in the hierarchy.

Examples

Not all fauna phyla are divided into subphyla. Those that are include:

Examples of infraphyla include the Mycetozoa and the Gnathostomata.

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, class, kingdom, etc.

A given rank subsumes under it less general categories, that is, more specific descriptions of life forms. Above it, each rank is classified within more general categories of organisms and groups of organisms related to each other through inheritance of traits or features from common ancestors. The rank of any species and the description of its genus is basic; which means that to identify a particular organism, it is usually not necessary to specify ranks other than these first two.

Consider a particular species, the red fox Vulpes vulpes: its next rank, the genus Vulpes, comprises all the 'true foxes'. Their closest relatives are in the immediately higher rank, the family Canidae, which includes dogs, wolves, jackals, all foxes, and other caniforms; the next higher rank, the order Carnivora, includes feliforms and caniforms (lions, tigers, bears, hyenas, wolverines, and all those mentioned above), plus other carnivorous mammals. As one group of the class Mammalia, all of the above are classified among those with backbones in the Chordata phylum rank, and with them among all the animals in the Animalia kingdom rank. Finally, all of the above will find their earliest relatives somewhere in their domain rank Eukarya.