Type species

The technical noun type species in taxonomy is involved in the application or typification of formal names in biological and binomial nomenclature. The type species fixes or permanently attaches a genus to its formal name (its generic name).

In zoology
The term type species is regulated in zoological nomenclature by article 42.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which defines type species as the name-bearing type of the name of a genus or subgenus (a "genus-group name") is the "type species". In the Glossary, type species is defined as
 * "The nominal species that is the name-bearing type of a nominal genus or subgenus".

The species name in turn is fixed to a type specimen. Ideally, every named genus or subgenus should have a type species, but in practice there is a backlog of untypified names.