% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
% Please edit documentation in R/distance.R
\name{lineage_depth}
\alias{lineage_depth}
\title{Get the lineage depth of a taxon}
\usage{
lineage_depth(taxon, verbose = FALSE)
}
\arguments{
\item{taxon}{A character string giving the taxon name.}

\item{verbose}{Logical. If \code{TRUE}, prints progress messages. Default \code{FALSE}.}
}
\value{
An integer giving the lineage depth, or \code{NULL} if the taxon cannot
be found.
}
\description{
Returns the number of nodes in the lineage of a taxon, from root to tip.
This reflects how deeply nested the taxon is within the taxonomic hierarchy.
}
\examples{
\donttest{
lineage_depth("Tyrannosaurus")   # deep — many intermediate clades
lineage_depth("Biota")           # shallow — near root
}
}
