Family
Family, in biology, a group of living things believed to have a common ancestor. A family consists of one or more genera (singular: genus) made up of one or more species, or distinctive kinds, of living things. Large families are divided into subfamilies and tribes. Families are grouped in larger units called orders.
A family may consist of only one genus containing a single species. Thus Hominidae, the family to which humans belong, consists of only the one living genus Homo, containing only the species H. sapiens. Most families, however, contain several genera made up of a number of species.