holotype
Americannoun
noun
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The single specimen or illustration designated as the type for naming a species or subspecies or used as the basis for naming a species or subspecies when no type has been selected.
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Also called type species
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of holotype
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A collaborative team that included Dinosaur Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Zach Morris studied the disputed Nanotyrannus holotype -- the specimen originally used to identify the species -- with a close focus on its throat bone.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 9, 2025
But designating a neotype "usually relies on other people being able to determine whether or not you can find a specimen of the same species from the same locality" as the holotype, said Seago.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2023
But in Brazil, 90% of holotype fossils described by foreign researchers were housed in foreign collections, which goes against Brazilian law.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 1, 2022
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s skeleton, nicknamed “the Nation’s T. rex,” has been anointed the holotype for Tyrannosaurus regina.
From New York Times ● Feb. 28, 2022
We examined the holotype on 25 September 1969, and found it to be soft and rubbed.
From A Synopsis of Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Osteocephalus by William E. Duellman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
