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This text is intended for senior or postgraduate courses in systematic, particularly animal taxonomy. Practical suggestions for taxonomic practice are included and explanations of the basic concepts of taxonomy are exphasized as well as definition of traditional terms used in taxonomy. The treatment of taxonomy is in two parts. Part A is devoted to microtaxonomy and part B is devoted to macrotaxonomy. There is a new chapter on the methods of numerical taxonomy, and an extensive treatment of the new approaches in taxonomy “synopsis” may belong to another edition of this title.

Contents: Preface. 1. The Science of Taxonomy: I. Principles of zoological classification: 2. The species category. 3. The polytypic species, population systematics and infraspecific categories. 4. Theories of biological classification and their history. 5. The hierarchy of categories and the higher taxa. II. Methods of zoological classification: 6. Taxonomic Collections and the Process of Identification. 7. Taxonomic Characters. 8. The Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Variation. 9. Taxonomic Decisions on the Species level. 10. The Procedure of Classifying. 11. Taxonomic Publication. III. Principles and Application of Zoological Nomenclature: 12. The Rules of Zoological Nomenclature. 13. Interpretation of the Rules of Nomenclature. Bibliography. Glossary. Index.