Paratype

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A physical specimen (or an illustration) that is not the holotype but is considered the same taxon by the author of the holotype.

    "The paratype of this species proves to have an ovipositor very different from that of the holotype (see dissimilis, new species)."

Example

More examples

"The paratype of this species proves to have an ovipositor very different from that of the holotype (see dissimilis, new species)."

Etymology

From para- + type.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.