outside taxonomy. For example, definition 6 is paired with the following definition of systematics that places nomenclature outside taxonomy:
* Systematics: "The study of the identification, taxonomy, and nomenclature of organisms, including the classification of living things with regard to their natural relationships and the study of variation and the evolution of taxa".

In 1970, Michener et al. defined "systematic biology" and "taxonomy" in relation to one another as follows:

Systematic biology (hereafter called simply systematics) is the field that
*(a) provides scientific names for organisms,
*(b) describes them,
*(c) preserves collections of them,
*(d) provides classifications for the organisms, keys for their identification, and data on their distributions,
*(e) investigates their evolutionary histories, and
*(f) considers their environmental adaptations.This is a field with a long history that in recent years has experienced a notable renaissance, principally with respect to theoretical content. Part of the theoretical material has to do with evolutionary areas (topics e and f above), the rest relates especially to the problem of classification. Taxonomy is that part of Systematics concerned with topics (a) to (d) above.

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