subphylum

American  

[suhb-fahy-luhm] / sʌbˈfaɪ ləm /

noun

Biology.

PLURAL

subphyla

1. a category of related classes within a phylum.

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subphylum British  

/ sʌbˈfaɪləm /

noun

1. biology a taxonomic group that is a subdivision of a phylum

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subphylum Scientific  

/ sŭb′fī′ləm /

PLURAL

subphyla

1. A subdivision of a phylum of organisms. A subphylum contains one or more classes.

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Other Word Forms

• subphylar adjective

Etymology

Origin of subphylum

From New Latin, dating back to 1930–35; sub-, phylum

Example Sentences

"Myxozoans have gone through outstanding morphological and genomic simplifications during their adaptation to parasitism from a free-living cnidarian ancestor," the study noted, referring to the aquatic and parasitic subphylum.

From Salon

But at a time when 1 billion people are chronically hungry, and when the raising of livestock already takes up two-thirds of the world’s farmland and generates 20 percent of greenhouse gas emission, class Insecta, subphylum Hexapoda needs to be more aggressively explored as a food source.

From Slate

The gun-shooting, crystal-gazing, ballot-casting species�called Homo sapiens by taxonomic courtesy�belongs to the genus homo, the family of Hominidae, the order of primates, the class of mammals, the subphylum of vertebrates, the phylum of Chordata, and to the animal kingdom.

From Time Magazine Archive