The species concept used in virology is based on the logic of the Linnaean hierarchy, which views a species class as the lowest abstract category that is included in all the higher categories in the classification, such as genera and families. As a result of this class inclusion, the members of a species class are always less numerous than the members of higher classes, which become more numerous as one moves up in the hierarchy. Because species classes always have fewer members than any of the higher classes, logic requires that they need more qualifications for establishing membership than any of the higher classes. This invalidates the claim that a species could be defined by a single property present in all its members. Species were only accepted in virus classification in 1991, because virologists assumed that it would lead to the use of Latin species names, which they rejected. Anglicized binomial species names have been used by virologists for more the 40 years and are popular because they consist of a virus name followed by a genus name that most virologists are familiar with. The ICTV has proposed to introduce a new Latinized virus species binomial nomenclature using the genus name followed by a hard-to-remember Latinized species epithet that bears little resemblance to the name of the virus itself. However, the proposal did not clarify what the advantage is of having to learn hundreds of new unfamiliar virus species names. In 2013, the ICTV changed the definition of a virus species as an abstract class and defined it as a group of physical objects, which induced virologists to believe that a virus species could be defined by a few characteristics of the viral genome. In recent years, thousands of viral sequences have been discovered in metagenomic databases, and the ICTV has suggested that it should be possible to incorporate these sequences in the current ICTV virus classification. Unfortunately, the relational properties of these hypothetical viruses that result from their biological interactions with hosts and vectors remain in the vast majority of cases totally unknown. The absence of this information makes it in fact impossible to incorporate these metagenomic sequences in the current classification of virus species.

病毒学中使用的物种概念基于Linnaean层次结构的逻辑，该逻辑将物种类别视为最低的抽象类别，该类别包含在分类的所有较高类别中，例如属和科。由于这一类别的加入，一个物种类别的成员总是比高级类别的成员少，而高级类别的成员随着级别的上升而越来越多。由于物种类别的成员总是比任何较高类别的成员少，因此逻辑要求与任何较高类别相比，它们需要更多的资格来建立成员资格。这使声称可以通过其所有成员中存在的单个属性定义物种的主张无效。1991年，物种仅在病毒分类中被接受，因为病毒学家认为这会导致使用拉丁物种名称，但他们拒绝了。角度二项式物种名称已经被病毒学家使用了40多年，并且之所以流行，是因为它们由病毒名称和大多数病毒学家所熟悉的属名称组成。ICTV建议使用属名引入一种新的拉丁化病毒物种二项式命名法，然后再加上一个难以记忆的拉丁化物种名称，该名称与病毒本身的名称几乎没有相似之处。但是，该提案并未阐明必须学习数百个新的陌生病毒种类名称的好处。2013年，ICTV将病毒物种的定义更改为抽象类，并将其定义为一组物理对象，这使病毒学家相信病毒种类可以由病毒基因组的一些特征来定义。近年来，在宏基因组学数据库中发现了数千个病毒序列，而ICTV建议将这些序列整合到当前的ICTV病毒分类中。不幸的是，在大多数情况下，这些假想病毒与宿主和载体的生物学相互作用所产生的相关特性仍然是完全未知的。由于缺少这些信息，因此实际上不可能将这些宏基因组序列纳入当前的病毒种类分类中。ICTV建议将这些序列纳入当前的ICTV病毒分类中。不幸的是，在大多数情况下，这些假想病毒与宿主和载体的生物学相互作用所产生的相关特性仍然是完全未知的。由于缺少这些信息，因此实际上不可能将这些宏基因组序列纳入当前的病毒种类分类中。ICTV建议将这些序列纳入当前的ICTV病毒分类中。不幸的是，在大多数情况下，这些假想病毒与宿主和载体的生物学相互作用所产生的相关特性仍然是完全未知的。由于缺少这些信息，因此实际上不可能将这些宏基因组序列纳入当前的病毒种类分类中。