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Taxonomy
science
of classifying organisms
--groups related organisms
together
--assigns each a name
About
1.5 million species
named
2-100 million species yet
to be discovered
spider monkey
sea horse
firefly
mud puppy
ringworm
jellyfish
sea monkey
gray wolf
crayfish
horned toad
black bear
Common names can be confusing and
names can vary by region.
Organisms
can have more than 1
common name but
all organisms have only 1
scientific name
-usually Latin or Greek
-developed by Carolus Linnaeus
Two-word naming system
 -Written in italics (or underlined if
handwritten)
-1st word is Capitalized --Genus
-2nd word is lowercase ---species
 Examples:
 Felis
concolor- Mountain Lion, Cougar
 Homo sapiens-Human
 Panthera leo- Lion
 Panthera tigris-Tiger
 Devised
the current system of classification,
which uses the following schema:
 Kingdom
 Phylum
 Class
 Order
 Family
 Genus
 Species
Organisms
are
sorted into
nested groups
Related
organisms are
grouped
together
Related
groups
 have
common ancestors
 have DNA similarity
Related
organisms have some
similar traits. For example:
 Physical
traits
 Food requirements
If
we know what group an organism
belongs to
Then we know some traits of that
organism
The finer scale of classification
(e.g., Kingdom v. Order) the more
we know about the traits of an
organism.
 If
we identify something as an animal
 Then we know it must eat to get its
food
 Because
organisms in the animal kingdom
must eat their food
 If
we identify something as a dragonfly
 Then we know it must be a predator
 because
organisms in the dragonfly order
are predators
 Rodents


Mouse
Rat
 Primates


Orangutans
Chimpanzees
 Arthropods


May fly
Crane fly