BioConcepts

macrotaxonomyMakrotaxonomie (ger.)

• The science of formally defining and naming supraspecific taxa, and of assigning entities to these taxa.
  category taxonomy see also microtaxonomy

  1940

  the taxonomist [...] used to derive his opinions upon species formation from studies of closely related species. Nowadays he adds to this the study of the subspecies found in nature and their geographic relations. We might call this microtaxonomy. Conclusions derived from microtaxonomical studies upon the methods of evolution are valuable as generalizations only if they can explain also the facts of macrotaxonomy.

  Goldschmidt, R. (1940). The Material Basis of Evolution: 5.
  

  1946

  If macroevolution is regarded as simply the accumulation of enough microevolution (as experimentally observed) to serve as a basis for large categorical distinctions (macrotaxonomy), the word indicates quite a different phenomenon from Goldschmidt’s theoretical macroevolution

  Jepsen, G.L. (1946). [Rev. Simpson, G.G. (1944). Tempo and Mode in Evolution]. Amer. Midl. Nat. 35, 538-541: 539.
  

  1968

  Population taxonomy has been supplemented by what one might call macrotaxonomy, a taxonomy that is chiefly concerned with the theory and practice of classifying higher taxa.

  Mayr, E. (1968). Theory of biological classification. Nature 220, 545-548: 548.
  

  1982

  The history of the field is best understood, if two subfields of taxonomy are recognized: (1) microtaxonomy, which deals with the methods and principles by which kinds (“species”) of organisms are recognized and delimited, and (2) macrotaxonomy, which deals with the methods and principles by which kinds of organisms are classified, that is, arranged in the form of classifications.

  Mayr, E. (1982). The Growth of Biological Thought: 145-6.