tectotype

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English

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Etymology

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From tecto- +‎ type, coined independently in different fields. The earliest attested sense is the taxonomic one, coined by Frederick Chapman in 1912.

Noun

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tectotype (plural tectotypes)

  1. (taxonomy, biology, rare) A type specimen explicitly designated to show microscopic structure.
  2. (geology, rare) A type section of a tectonic zone.