Type genus

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Type genus

In biology, the phrase type genus is used differently depending on the nomenclatural Code

Nomenclature Codes

The Nomenclature Codes are the rulebooks that govern biological nomenclature.After the successful introduction of two-part names for species by Carolus Linnaeus it became ever more apparent that a detailed body of rules was necessary to govern scientific names....
that applies:

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In biology, the phrase type genus is used differently depending on the nomenclatural Code

Nomenclature Codes

In zoological nomenclature
ICZN

ICZN may refer to:*International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, an organization*International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, published by that organization...
, a type genus is "The nominal genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
that is the name-bearing type
Biological type

In biology, a type is that which fixes a name to a taxon. Depending on the Nomenclature Codes which is applied to the organism in question, a type may be a specimen, culture, illustration, description or taxon....
of a nominal family-group taxon."
In botanical nomenclature
Botanical nomenclature

Botanical nomenclature is the formal naming of plants, from a scientific point of view. It has a long history, going back perhaps to Theophrastos, but anyway back to the period when Latin was the scientific language throughout Europe....
, 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
Descriptive botanical names

Descriptive botanical names: Article 16 of the ICBN rules that a name above the rank of rank may be either descriptive or formed from the name of an included family....
). 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.