Orthopoxvirus [SEP] parent taxon
Orthopoxvirus
Orthopoxvirus is a genus of viruses in the family "Poxviridae" and subfamily "Chordopoxvirinae". Vertebrates, including mammals and humans, and arthropods serve as natural hosts. Currently, 10 species are in this genus, including the type species "Vaccinia virus". Diseases associated with this genus include smallpox, cowpox, horsepox, and monkeypox. The most infamous member of the genus is "Variola virus", which causes smallpox. It was eradicated using "Vaccinia virus" as a vaccine.
Taxonomy.
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of