type specimen

noun Biology.

an individual organism from which the description of a species has been prepared.

Origin of type specimen

First recorded in 1890–95

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Examples from the Web for type specimen

Historical Examples of type specimen

The type-specimen of this species exists in the collection of the British Museum.
New Zealand Moths and Butterflies
G. V. Hudson
The type-specimen figured by Lambert does not show the longest cone and leaf of this species.
The Genus Pinus
George Russell Shaw
The type-specimen of Ziphius semijunctus (Cope), as already mentioned, is a young female.
The Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphidae
Frederick True

British Dictionary definitions for type specimen

type specimen

noun

biology the original specimen from which a description of a new species is madeAlso called: holotype

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012