phylotypes
FY-luh-types
Definition
Groups of organisms classified together based on the similarity of their genetic sequences rather than traditional physical or formal taxonomic descriptions.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek 'phylon' meaning tribe or race, and 'typos' meaning mark or type, it emerged in microbiology to describe organisms categorized by genomic data.
In the news
The article uses the term to highlight that most soil bacteria and fungi are identified through DNA sequencing as genetic groups, even though they lack formal species names.
A single teaspoon of soil from a healthy forest floor contains more living organisms — bacteria, fungi, protists, nematodes — than there are humans on Earth, and most of the species in that spoonful have never been named or described
Read the full article ↗ScienceBlog.com