Editing Division (taxonomy) (section)

==Proposals for standardisation==

In 1978, a group of botanists including [[Harold Charles Bold]], [[Arthur Cronquist]] and [[Lynn Margulis]] proposed replacing the term "division" with "phylum" in botanical nomenclature, arguing that maintaining different terms for the same taxonomic rank across biological kingdoms created unnecessary confusion. This was particularly problematic for unicellular [[eukaryote]]s, where [[heterotrophic]] organisms were classified under zoological nomenclature (using "phylum") while [[autotrophic]] organisms fell under botanical nomenclature (using "division"). They proposed updating the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature to use "phylum" and "subphylum" throughout, while maintaining that names originally published as divisions would be treated as if they had been published as phyla.<ref name="Bold et al. 1978"/>