In taxonomy

Alpha taxonomy

Alpha taxonomy is the discipline concerned with finding, describing and naming species of living or fossil organisms. This field is supported by institutions holding collections of these organisms, with relevant data, carefully curated: such institutes include natural history museums, herbaria and...

, the Desulfurococcaceae are a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of the disc-shaped anaerobic microorganisms belonging to the order Desulfurococcales

Desulfurococcales

In taxonomy, the Desulfurococcales are an order of the Thermoprotei.-External links:...

, in the domain Archaea

Archaea

The Archaea are a group of single-celled microorganisms. A single individual or species from this domain is called an archaeon...

. Members of this family are distinguished from the other family (Pyrodictiaceae

Pyrodictiaceae

The Pyrodictiaceae are a family of disc-shaped anaerobic microorganisms belonging to the order Desulfurococcales, in the domain Archaea. Members of this family are distinguished from the other family in the order Desulfurococcales by having an optimal growth temperature above 100 degrees °C,...

) in the order Desulfurococcales by having an optimal growth temperature below 100°C, rather than above 100 degrees°C, and by being more diverse. Several genera of the family have been identified (see taxobox).

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