Definition
A phylum is a scientific term grouping together related organisms on the basis of their fundamental characteristics.
Introduction
The term phylum was coined by Ernst Hackel (1866) and is derived from the Greek word “phylon,” associated with phyle (tribe). A phylum can be defined either by a group of organisms with a certain degree of morphological or developmental similarity or as a group of organisms with an evolutionary relationship. In classification for taxonomic rank, “Phylum” is placed below “Kingdom” and above “Class” (Fig. 1). In botany, the word division has been used instead of phylum, even though the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants follows the terms as equivalent (Valentine 2004; McNeill et al. 2012a, b). On the basis of definitions, the animal kingdom, plant kingdom, and fungi include 32, 14, and 8 phyla, respectively.
Major taxonomic ranks of biological classification
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Samal, S., Swapnil, P., Meena, M. (2019). Phylum. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1197-1
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