wastebasket taxa

A form of wastebasket taxon — A taxon that exists only to classify organisms that do not fit anywhere else, being either paraphyletic or polyphyletic and therefore not considered valid under modern rules of taxonomy.

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Meanings

noun
  1. pluralplural of wastebasket taxon
Cite this entry
APA

wastebasket taxa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wastebasket%20taxa

MLA

“wastebasket taxa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wastebasket%20taxa. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wastebasket taxa,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wastebasket%20taxa.

Source: wastebasket taxa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.