subsubspecies

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noun

A subspecies of a subspecies.

Scrabble 21

Meanings

nounsubsubspecies (plural subsubspecies)
  1. A subspecies of a subspecies.

    Kinsey’s species of Cynips are considered to be only subspecies or subsubspecies by Goldschmidt (282).

    1944, Stanley A. Cain, Foundations of Plant Geography, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, page 383
    3 more examples

    […]and any geographical sections of the whole which have been called by distinct names are, by definition, only subspecies, or even subsubspecies.

    1898, A[dolf] B[ernhard] Meyer, L[ionel] W[illiam] Wiglesworth, The Birds of Celebes and the Neighbouring Islands, volume I, Berlin: R. Friedländer & Sohn, page 52

    Cases may also be encountered where very distinct subspecies appear to have been further segregated into what might be equivalent to “subsubspecies.”

    1944 November, E. Gorton Linsley, “The Naming of Infra-Specific Categories”, in Entomological News, volume LV, number 9, Philadelphia, Pa.: The American Entomological Society; The Academy of Natural Sciences, pages 227–228

    Moreover, a species usually encompasses subordinate classification groups such as subspecies (or varieties), subsubspecies (or races), and strains, and these too are distinguished by particular, unique variations (Fig. 16.2).

    1966, Paul B. Weisz, The Science of Zoology, McGraw-Hill Book Company, →LCCN, page 437

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

subsubspecies. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subsubspecies

MLA

“subsubspecies.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subsubspecies. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “subsubspecies,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/subsubspecies.

Source: subsubspecies on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.