What taxonomic rank comes above phylum?
Taxonomic rank of mollusks). For animals, at least the phylum rank is usually associated with a certain body plan, which is also, however, an arbitrary criterion. Taxonomic rank In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain, etc. A given rank subsumes under it less general categories, that is, more specific descriptions of life forms. Above it, each rank is classified within more general categories of organisms and groups of organisms related to each other through inheritance of
Taxonomic rank purposes of demonstration of relative rank (but see notes), from most general to most specific: Ranks are assigned based on subjective dissimilarity, and do not fully reflect the gradational nature of variation within nature. In most cases, higher taxonomic groupings arise further back in time: not because the rate of diversification was higher in the past, but because each subsequent diversification event results in an increase of diversity and thus increases the taxonomic rank assigned by present-day taxonomists. Furthermore, some groups have many described species not because they are more diverse than other species, but because they are more easily