Categories of Biological Classification

Grade 10 BiologySpring 2011

Aristotle: grouped plants and animals according to their structural similarities ◦ More than 2000 years ago

Greeks and Romans: grouped plants and animals into basic categories such as oaks, dogs, horses ◦ Each unit of classification came to be called a

genus (Latin word for group)

Taxonomy: the science of naming and classifying organisms

Until mid 1700’s biologist named organisms by adding descriptive phases (in Latin!)◦ Honey bee had a 12-part scientific name

Carl Linnaeus: ambition was to catalog all known kinds of organisms, started a two-word Latin name for each species

Binomial Nomenclature: two-word system for naming organisms

Scientific Name: the unique two-part name for a species◦ First word is genus, second is species

Genus: taxonomic category containing similar species ◦ Organisms in a genus share important

characteristics

First letter of a genus name is always CAPATALIZED and the second first letter of the second word is always lowercase

Scientific names are italicized or underlined After first use of full scientific name, genus

can be abbreviated with single letter

Two Species of Oak

Common Name Genus Scientific Name Traits

Red Oak Quercus Quercus rubraQ. rubra

Lobed leaves; produces acorns approximately 25mm long

Willow Oak Quercus Quercus phellosQ. phellos

Unloabed leaves; produces acorns approximately 15mm long

Domain: contains kingdoms Kingdom: contains phyla Phylum: contains classes Classes: contains orders Order: contain families Family: contains genera Genus: contain species Species

Domain: Eukarya Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Family: Apidae Genus: Apis Species: Apis mellifera