<P> Consider a particular species, the red fox, Vulpes vulpes: the next rank above, the genus Vulpes, comprises all the "true" foxes . Their closest relatives are in the immediately higher rank, the family Canidae, which includes dogs, wolves, jackals, and all foxes; the next higher rank, the order Carnivora, includes caniforms (bears, seals, weasels, skunks, raccoons and all those mentioned above), and feliforms (cats, civets, hyenas, mongooses). As one group of the hairy, warm - blooded, nursing members of the class Mammalia, all of the above are classified among animals with backbones in the phylum Chordata, and with them among all animals in the kingdom Animalia . Finally, at the highest rank all of these are grouped together with all other organisms possessing cell nuclei in the domain Eukarya . </P> <P> The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature defines rank as: "The level, for nomenclatural purposes, of a taxon in a taxonomic hierarchy (e.g. all families are for nomenclatural purposes at the same rank, which lies between superfamily and subfamily)." </P> <P> In his landmark publications, such as the Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus used a ranking scale limited to: kingdom, class, order, genus, species, and one rank below species . Today, nomenclature is regulated by the nomenclature codes . There are seven main taxonomic ranks: kingdom, phylum or division, class, order, family, genus, species . In addition, the domain (proposed by Carl Woese) is now widely used as one of the fundamental ranks, although it is not mentioned in any of the nomenclature codes . Also, this term represents a synonym for the category of dominion (lat . dominium), introduced by Moore in 1974 . Unlike Moore, Whoese et al. (1990) did not suggest a Latin term for this category, which represents a further argument supporting the accurately introduced term dominion . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Main taxonomic ranks </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Latin </Td> <Td> English </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> vitae </Td> <Td> life </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> regio </Td> <Td> domain </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> regnum </Td> <Td> kingdom </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> phylum </Td> <Td> phylum </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> classis </Td> <Td> class </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> ordo </Td> <Td> order </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> familia </Td> <Td> family </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> genus </Td> <Td> genus </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> species </Td> <Td> species </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Taxonomic rank that includes species but not families