A specimen of the opposite sex to the holotype.
The ALLOTYPE is designated from among paratypes. The word was also
formerly used for a specimen that shows features not seen in the
holotype of a fossil.
The term is not regulated by the ICZN.
An additional, clarifying type (specimen or illustration) of a species
or lower-order taxon, provided when the holotype and paratypes from the
original classification are demonstrably ambiguous or insufficient.
A special case in Protistans where the type consists of two or more
specimens of "directly related individuals representing distinct stages
in the life cycle"; these are collectively treated as a single entity,
and lectotypes cannot be designated from among them.
When a single specimen is clearly designated in the original
description, this specimen is known as the holotype of that species.
The holotype is typically placed in a major museum, or similar
well-known public collection, so that it is freely available for later
examination by other biologists.
The clearly designated specimen of a species.
The holotype is typically placed in a major museum, or similar
well-known public collection, so that it is freely available for later
examination by other biologists.
An illustration on which a new species or subspecies was based.
For instance, the Burmese python, Python bivittatus, is one of many
species that are based on illustrations by Albertus Seba
A lectotype is a specimen later selected to serve as the single type
specimen for species originally described from a set of syntypes. In
zoology, a lectotype is a kind of name-bearing type. When a species was
originally described on the basis of a name-bearing type consisting of
multiple specimens, one of those may be designated as the lectotype.
Having a single name-bearing type reduces the potential for confusion,
especially considering that it is not uncommon for a series of syntypes
to contain specimens of more than one species.
A notable example is that Carl Linnaeus is the lectotype for the species
Homo sapiens
A Specimen later selected to serve as the single type specimen when an
original holotype has been lost or destroyed or where the original
author never cited a specimen.
A paralectotype is any additional specimen from among a set of syntypes,
after a lectotype has been designated from among them.
These are not name-bearing types
A syntype is any one of two or more specimens that is listed in a
species description where no holotype was designated; historically,
syntypes were often explicitly designated as such, and under the present
ICZN this is a requirement, but modern attempts to publish species
description based on syntypes are generally frowned upon by practicing
taxonomists, and most are gradually being replaced by lectotypes.
Those that still exist are still considered name-bearing types.