Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A taxonomic category of related organisms ranking below an order or its subdivisions and above a family.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In biology, a group of families, or a. group of a grade next above the family.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A group intermediate between a family and a suborder.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun taxonomy A
taxonomic category abovefamily and beloworder (and itssubdivisions ).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (biology) a taxonomic group ranking below an order but above a family
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Though these mammals can resemble rodents order Rodentia, and were classified as a superfamily in that order until the early twentieth century, they have since been considered a separate order.
Video: Kitteh Team-Up - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger? 2009
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"Though members of order Lagomorpha can resemble rodents (order Rodentia), and were classified as a superfamily in that order until the early twentieth century, they have since been considered a separate order."
How'd that thing get in here? Jessica Hagy 2007
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She doesn't yet have a name for the creature, but we have already determined that it's in the family Knittedae, superfamily Craftoidea, class Woolapoda, a sister group of the Gastropoda.
Archive 2009-01-01 AYDIN 2009
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About 10 days ago, Christopher Taylor over at Catalogue of Organisms had a post about the terrestrial gastropod superfamily Gastrodontoidea.
Archive 2009-08-01 AYDIN 2009
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About 10 days ago, Christopher Taylor over at Catalogue of Organisms had a post about the terrestrial gastropod superfamily Gastrodontoidea.
Where are all the malacologists? AYDIN 2009
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(Crocodiles are part of the Crocodyloidea superfamily, whereas alligators and caimans are part of Alligatoroidea).
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Sea lion is the name given to sea-dwelling mammals belonging to the Otariidae family of the Pinnipedia superfamily.
Sea Lion Papercraft | Papercraft Paradise | PaperCrafts | Paper Models | Card Models Michael James 2010
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Sea lion is the name given to sea-dwelling mammals belonging to the Otariidae family of the Pinnipedia superfamily.
Archive 2010-04-01 Michael James 2010
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They've developed a particular expertise around a group of enzymes referred to as the "cytochrome P450 superfamily," or CYP450 for short, which is involved in how the liver metabolizes many chemicals.
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Most belong to the leguminosae superfamily, many of which are associated with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and various species of ants.
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