chemotaxonomy
noun
che·mo·tax·on·o·my ˌkē-mō-(ˌ)tak-ˈsä-nə-mē 
: the classification of plants and animals based on similarities and differences in biochemical composition
chemotaxonomic
ˌkē-mō-ˌtak-sə-ˈnä-mik
adjective chemotaxonomist
ˌkē-mō-(ˌ)tak-ˈsä-nə-mist
noun 
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from German Chemotaxonomie, from chemo- chemo- + Taxonomie taxonomy
Note: Term promulgated, if not introduced, by the Swiss botanist and biochemist Robert Hegnauer (1919-2007), in "Chemotaxonomische Betrachtungen VI. Phytochemie und Systematik: Eine Rück—und Vorausschau auf die Entwicklung einer Chemotaxonomie," Pharmaceutica Acta Helvetiae, Band 33 (1958), pp. 287-305. Hegnauer used the adjective chemotaxonomisch "chemotaxonomic" earlier (see "Chemotaxonomische Betrachtung der Leguminosae," Die Pharmazie, 5. Band, Heft 10 [October, 1956], pp. 638-51.)
First Known Use
1963, in the meaning defined above