Type genus

In biology the phrase type genus is used differently depending on the nomenclatural Code that applies:

• In zoological nomenclature, a type genus is "The nominal genus that is the name-bearing type of a nominal family-group taxon."
• In botanical nomenclature, the phrase "type genus" is used, unofficially, as a term of convenience. In the ICBN this phrase has no status. The names of all taxa in a rank higher than genus are based on a generic name (except in the case of a descriptive name). This generic name is informally called the type genus of that higher ranking taxon.

Example: The sentence "Faba is the type genus of the family Fabaceae" is another way of saying that the family name Fabaceae is based on the generic name Faba. Note that this should not be taken as an indication that there is an actual genus Faba, or that there are species whose name starts with Faba.