subspecies

 

The European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris), the nominate subspecies of wildcats (Felis silvestris)

 

The African wildcat (Felis silvestris lybica), another subspecies of the wildcat

From sub- +‎ species.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsʌbspiːʃiːz/, /-ʃɪz/, /-siːz/

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Hyphenation: sub‧spe‧cies

subspecies (plural subspecies)

1. (taxonomy) A rank in the classification of organisms, below species.
   • 1866, A[ndrew] C[rombie] Ramsay, “Trilobita”, in The Geology of North Wales (Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and of the Museum of Practical Geology; [III]), London: Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office; published by Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, →OCLC, page 325:

     I believe it [the trilobite Calymene blumenbachii] has been divided into several forms, which cannot claim more than the rank of subspecies, as they pass by slight gradations into forms which no author has yet thought it right to separate from the type species.

2. (taxonomy) A taxon at that rank, often indicated with trinomial nomenclature (such as Felis silvestris silvestris in zoology and Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii in botany).
   • 1851, [Johann Jakob] Kaup, “Descriptions of Some New Birds in the Museum of the Earl of Derby”, in Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, part XIX, London: Printed for the Society; sold at their house in Hanover Square, and by Messrs. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Paternoster Row, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 42:

     But these slight differences will not justify us in considering the West African chiquera as a true species distinct from the Indian true chiquera; it is only a subspecies of the latter true species.

3. A subdivision of a species in other scientific disciplines.
   • 1821, Robert Jameson, Manual of Mineralogy: Containing an Account of Simple Minerals, and also a Description and Arrangement of Mountain Rocks, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable & Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson & Co., →OCLC, page 166:

     Granular Augite. […] This subspecies of augite has been hitherto found principally in primitive rocks at Arendal in Norway, in several of the iron-mines, particularly that named Ulve-Grube.

• (abbreviations): ssp., subsp.

•   subspecies on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /subˈspe.ki.eːs/, [s̠ʊpˈs̠pɛkieːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /subˈspe.t͡ʃi.es/, [subˈspɛːt͡ʃies]

subspeciēs f (genitive subspeciēī); fifth declension

1. subspecies

Fifth-declension noun.

•   subspecies on the Latin Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^la