section_path: Definition/Microtaxonomy and macrotaxonomy
section_name: Microtaxonomy and macrotaxonomy
paragraph_text: Microtaxonomy and macrotaxonomy
  
  How species should be defined in a particular group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy. By extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at the higher taxonomic ranks subgenus and above, or simply in clades that include more than one taxon considered a species, expressed in terms of phylogenetic nomenclature.