Species description in the context of "Type specimen"

Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms comprising the biological kingdom Animalia (/ˌænɪˈmeɪliə/). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a hollow sphere of cells, the blastula, during embryonic development. Animals form a clade, meaning that they arose from a single common ancestor. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. Animal body lengths range from 8.5 μm (0.00033 in) to 33.6 m (110 ft). They have complex ecologies and interactions with each other and their environments, forming intricate food webs. The scientific study of animals is known as zoology, and the study of animal behaviour is known as ethology.

The animal kingdom is divided into five major clades, namely Porifera, Ctenophora, Placozoa, Cnidaria and Bilateria. Most living animal species belong to the clade Bilateria, a highly proliferative clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric and significantly cephalised body plan, and the vast majority of bilaterians belong to two large clades: the protostomes, which includes organisms such as arthropods, molluscs, flatworms, annelids and nematodes; and the deuterostomes, which include echinoderms, hemichordates and chordates, the latter of which contains the vertebrates. The much smaller basal phylum Xenacoelomorpha have an uncertain position within Bilateria.

Homo erectus (/ˌhoʊmoʊ əˈrɛktəs/ lit. 'upright man') is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, spanning nearly 2 million years. It is the first human species to evolve a humanlike body plan and gait, to leave Africa and colonize Asia and Europe, and to wield fire. Some populations of H. erectus were ancestors of later human species, including H. heidelbergensis — the last common ancestor of modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans. As such a widely distributed species both geographically and temporally, H. erectus anatomy varies considerably. Subspecies are sometimes recognized: H. e. erectus, H. e. pekinensis, H. e. soloensis, H. e. ergaster, H. e. georgicus, and H. e. tautavelensis.

The species was first described by Eugène Dubois in 1893 as "Pithecanthropus erectus" using a skullcap, molar, and femur from Java, Indonesia. Further discoveries around East Asia were used to contend that humanity evolved out of Asia. Based on historical race concepts, it was argued that local H. erectus populations evolved directly into local modern human populations (polycentrism) rather than all humanity sharing a single anatomically modern ancestor (monogenism). As the fossil record improved over the mid-to-late 20th century, "Out of Africa" theory and monogenism became the consensus.

Homo antecessor (Latin for 'pioneer man') is an extinct species of archaic human recorded in the Spanish Sierra de Atapuerca, a productive archaeological site, from 1.2 to 0.8 million years ago during the Early Pleistocene. Populations of this species may have been present elsewhere in Western Europe, and were among the first to settle that region of the world, hence the name. The first fossils were found in the Gran Dolina cave in 1994, and the species was formally described in 1997 as the last common ancestor of modern humans and Neanderthals, supplanting the more conventional H. heidelbergensis in this position. H. antecessor has since been reinterpreted as an offshoot from the modern human line, although probably one branching off just before the modern human/Neanderthal split.

Despite being so ancient, the face is unexpectedly similar to that of modern humans rather than other archaic humans—namely in its overall flatness as well as the curving of the cheekbone as it merges into the upper jaw—although these elements are known only from a juvenile specimen. Brain volume could have been 1,000 cc (61 cu in) or more, but no intact braincase has been discovered. This is within the range of variation for modern humans. Stature estimates range from 162.3–186.8 cm (5 ft 4 in – 6 ft 2 in). H. antecessor may have been broad-chested and rather heavy, much like Neanderthals, although the limbs were proportionally long, a trait more frequent in tropical populations. The kneecaps are thin and have poorly developed tendon attachments. The feet indicate H. antecessor walked differently than modern humans.

In zoological nomenclature, the specific name (also specific epithet, species epithet, or epitheton) is the second part (the second name) within the scientific name of a species (a binomen). The first part of the name of a species is the name of the genus or the generic name. The rules and regulations governing the giving of a new species name are explained in the article species description. For example, the scientific name for humans is Homo sapiens, which is the species name, consisting of two names: Homo is the "generic name" (the name of the genus) and sapiens is the "specific name".

In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the defining features of that particular taxon. In older usage (pre-1900 in botany), a type was a taxon rather than a specimen.

A taxon is a scientifically named grouping of organisms with other like organisms, a set that includes some organisms and excludes others, based on a detailed published description (for example a species description) and on the provision of type material, which is usually available to scientists for examination in a major museum research collection, or similar institution.

The Cyperaceae (/ˌsaɪpəˈreɪsi.iː, -ˌaɪ/) are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 genera – the largest being the "true sedges" (genus Carex), with over 2,000 species.

This is a list of primates described in the 2020s. As primates are a well-studied group, species that are unknown to science are rare. However, recent advances in DNA sequencing have allowed scientists to compare populations and test for distinct lineages in extant species. This list includes species that have been discovered, formally described, or brought to public light in the year 2020 or later. New primate species are recorded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN/SSC) Primate Specialist Group, an organisation chaired by primatologist Russell Mittermeier and deputy chaired by Anthony Rylands. In the previous ten years 36 primates were described.

Spinoloricus cinziae is an animal species described in 2014 in the phylum Loricifera.

It was the first described animal species that does not require oxygen at any point during its life. The species, along with two other newly discovered species, Rugiloricus nov. sp. and Pliciloricus nov. sp. (all of order Nanaloricida), were found in the sediment of the anoxic L'Atalante basin of the Mediterranean Sea.