Editing Family (biology) (section)

==History==
The taxonomic term ''{{lang|la|familia}}'' was first used by French botanist [[Pierre Magnol]] in his ''{{lang|la|Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur}}'' (1689) where he called the seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families (''{{lang|la|familiae}}''). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the ''{{lang|la|Prodromus}}'' Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger ''{{lang|la|genera}}'', which is far from how the term is used today.

In his work ''Philosophia Botanica'' published in 1751, [[Carl Linnaeus]] employed the term ''familia'' to categorize significant plant groups such as [[Tree|trees]], [[herb]]s, [[fern]]s, [[Palmae|palms]], and so on. Notably, he restricted the use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from [[Michel Adanson]]'s ''{{lang|fr|Familles naturelles des plantes}}'' (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word ''{{lang|fr|famille}}'' was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ''{{lang|la|ordo}}'' (or ''{{lang|la|[[ordo naturalis]]}}'').

The family concept in botany was further developed by the French botanists [[Antoine Laurent de Jussieu]] and [[Michel Adanson]]. Jussieu's 1789 ''Genera Plantarum'' divided plants into 100 'natural orders,' many of which correspond to modern plant families. However, the term 'family' did not become standardized in botanical usage until after the mid-nineteenth century.<ref name="Winston 1999"/>

In [[zoology]], the family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by [[Pierre André Latreille]] in his ''{{lang|fr|Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel}}'' (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all [[arthropod]]s).

The standardization of zoological family names began in the early nineteenth century. A significant development came in 1813 when [[William Kirby (entomologist)|William Kirby]] introduced the -idae suffix for animal family names, derived from the Greek 'eidos' meaning 'resemblance' or 'like'. The adoption of this naming convention helped establish families as an important taxonomic rank. By the mid-1800s, many of Linnaeus's broad genera were being elevated to family status to accommodate the rapidly growing number of newly discovered species.<ref name="Winston 1999"/>

In nineteenth-century works such as the ''{{lang|la|[[de Candolle system|Prodromus]]}}'' of [[Augustin Pyramus de Candolle]] and the ''{{lang|la|[[Bentham & Hooker system|Genera Plantarum]]}}'' of [[George Bentham]] and [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] this word ''{{lang|la|ordo}}'' was used for what now is given the rank of family.