Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A taxonomic subdivision of a species consisting of an interbreeding, usually geographically isolated population of organisms.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In zoology and botany, a variety of a species; a climatic or geographical race recognizably different from another, yet not specifically distinguished; a conspecies. The nearest synonym is race. (See
race , n., 5 .) Subspecies is a stronger and stricter word than variety, though nearly synonymous with the latter in its biological sense: it means decidedly more than strain, sport, or breed in like senses. The interpretation of subspecies and their actual handling in zoölogical and botanical taxonomy have been much mooted. Such forms are commonly regarded as nascent or incipient species (seespecies , 5) which have acquired subspecific characters under varying conditions of environment, and whose specific invalidity is determinable by the fact of their intergradation. See intergrade, v. i.
Wiktionary
- n. biology, taxonomy A rank in the classification of organisms, below species
- n. biology, taxonomy A taxon at that rank
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A group somewhat lessdistinct than speciesusually are, but based on characters more important than those which characterize ordinary varieties; often, a geographical variety or race.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (biology) a taxonomic group that is a division of a species; usually arises as a consequence of geographical isolation within a species
Examples
“Anyway, the point is that if you're not a certain subspecies of nerd, you probably are going to find the Silmarillion boring.”
“So the biggest of all reindeer subspecies is non-migratory, and so is the smallest, the platyrhynchus subspecies of Spitzbergen.”
“These mongooses may represent a separate subspecies from the one that exists in Kenya,' said Dr. De Luca of WCS 'Tanzania Program.”
“As confusing as this may be for the non-expert the important consideration is the no matter wether correctly called redband steelhead, or redhead steelhead, they are all rainbow trout and are classified as subspecies of the full species Oncorhynchus mykiss.”
“For example, there are no subspecies among the five species of Pacific salmon because, without a geographical barrier isolating adjacent populations, a fully anadromous species typically does not partition its diversity into discrete units that might be classified as subspecies.”
“Subsequently, the golden trout was described as a subspecies of cutthroat trout in 1892.”
“The Santo Domingo trout is sometimes classified as the subspecies nelsoni.”
“In 1894, the landlocked salmon of Quebec was described as a subspecies, “S. salar ouananiche.””
“They are either classified as a subspecies of humans (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or as a separate species”
“Maybe one or more of the supposed subspecies is going to be elevated to species rank – or in fact restored to species rank, because at least some of the taxa were initially named as species, but later demoted when it became fashionable to lump big mammals in this way (and there’s an essay in that subject, by the way).”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘subspecies’.
-
AGRI - horse breeding
place bet, Przewalski's horse, piaffe, genus Claviceps, stadium jumping, draft animal, snaffle bit, noseband, equestrian sport, endurance riding, curb bit, dressage and 678 more...
-
How low can you go?
A list of words that does the opposite of raising the bar
underscore, underwear, underachiever, underrated, underbite, undercapitalization, undercharged, underfloor, underground, underexposed, underfed, underboss and 105 more...
-
Evolution
darwin, hms beagle, galapagos, evolution, natural selection, select for, confer, survival advantage, environmental pre..., mutation, genome, homozygous and 193 more...
-
antelopes
addax
a large light-coloured antelope with curled horns. L. from an African word quoted by Pliny.
antelope
any one of a group of hollow-horned...addax, antelope, antilopine, ariel, blackbuck, blaubok, bluebuck, bloubok, blesbok, blesbuck, bok, bongo and 479 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for subspecies.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.