CLASSIFYING ORGANISM

 One branch of biology, called taxonomy, focuses on the classification of living things. Taxonomy
is the study of relationships between living things and the formal classification of organisms into
groups based upon those hypothesized relationships. Organisms are classified based upon their
similarities and differences.

 Using morphological, behavioral, genetic and biochemical observations, taxonomists identify,

describe and arrange species into classifications, including those that are new to science.
 From Aristotle’s classification (based on habitat “organism that live on land, water and air”) to
Carolus Linnaeus as the father of modern taxonomy classified organism based on similarities in
obvious physical traits.
 Modern classification is based on the functional similarity as well as genetic similarity of
individuals. Human beings are mammals and are more closely related to primates, such as apes,
than to other mammals such as dogs. Humans and apes share functional similarity in hands and
facial features when compared to a dog’s face and paws. This fact supports the idea that
humans share a closer common ancestor to apes than dogs.
 Try these mnemonics: Do King Philip Came Over
For Green Soup?

 There are three domains that include all the living

things on Earth. The domains are Bacteria, Archaea,
and Eukarya. Bacteria and Archaea are all single-
celled microorganisms that do not have DNA
contained within a nucleus.
 Most of the Archaea live in extreme environments.
The Bacteria and Archaea were once grouped
together as a single kingdom (called Monera), but
scientists later discovered that the Archaea were
distinctly different. Archaea are more similar to
Eukarya than to Bacteria.
 he domain Eukarya includes all organisms that have
DNA contained within a nucleus. Within the
domain Eukarya, there are four kingdoms: Protista,
Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia. Organisms with
similar characteristics are grouped within these broad kingdoms.
 Organisms are usually grouped together based on their unique characteristics. The classification
of an organism often provides useful information about its evolutionary history and which other
organisms are related to it. For example, the Hawaiian goose or nēnē (Branta sandvicensis; Fig.
1.10) is classified as shown in Table 1.9.
Table 1.9. Classification of the Hawaiian goose or nēnē bird (Branta sandvicensis). Table
includes the meaning and the key characteristics of the taxon.

Taxon Classification Meaning Key characteristics

Domain Eukarya true nucleus DNA is contained within a nucleus.

Kingdom Animalia animal Must eat other things.

Notochord supporting dorsal nerve cord,

Phylum Chordata has a notochord
gill slits

Class Aves bird Has feathers and hollow bones.

Order Anseriformes waterfowl Webbed front toes

swans, ducks & Broad bill, keeled sternum, feathered oil

Family Anatidae
geese gland

Brent or black
Genus Branta Bold plumage, black bill and legs
geese

The Sandwich Islands is an old name

from the
Species sandvicensis for Hawai‘i. This is the Hawaiian goose
Sandwich Islands
or nēnē.

 At each level of hierarchy listed in Table 1.9, more information about the nēnē is revealed. If the
classification of the nēnē is imagined as a series of nested boxes (Fig. 1.9), the first box is the
domain Eukarya box. All organisms in Eukarya (often referred to as eukaryotes) have DNA
contained in a nucleus rather than in the cytoplasm like the domains Prokarya and Archaea.
 Next is the kingdom Animalia box. Everything in this box must consume other organisms to
survive. Other kingdoms within Eukarya, like the kingdom Plantae, have organisms that can
make their own food.
 Within the kingdom Animalia box, there are several other boxes, each labeled as a different
phylum. One is the phylum Chordata box. This box contains everything that has a notochord, gill
slits, and a dorsal nerve cord.
 The phylum Chordata box contains many classes, one of which is the class Aves. Aves are the
birds, with feathers and hollow bones.
 The class Aves box includes the box labeled order Anseriformes, the waterfowl that are grouped
together due to their webbed front toes.
 The order Anseriformes box contains two family boxes. One of these is the family Anatidae—the
swans, ducks, and geese that have a broad bill, a keeled sternum, and other unique features.
 The family Anatida box contains the genus Branta. Geese in the genus Branta are noted for bold
plumage and legs and bills that are black in color.
 The genus box Branta holds the species sandvicensis. By examining each level of classification, it
becomes clear that Branta sandvicensis is a Hawaiian goose with a black broad bill, legs, webbed
toes, feathers, hollow bones, and a notochord. It must also eat other things. Note that several
other species found in Hawai‘i are given the species name sandvicensis because Sandwich
Islands is an older European name for the Hawaiian Islands. However, no other organism on
 earth is given the genus Branta and the species sandvicensis. Branta sandvicensis is reserved
only for the nēnē.
 The classification system tells something about the evolutionary relationships among species.
Moving down through each level of classification, the number of species in the group decreases
Two species within the same genus likely share a recent common ancestor in their evolutionary
history. These two species would be more closely related to each other than two species
classified into different families.

BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE

KEY CONCEPTS

 Binomial nomenclature-System of scientifically naming organisms with two words (Scientific

name)
 Genus- The taxonomic category above species
 Species- The most basic taxonomic category consisting of individuals who can produce fertile
offspring

 Carolus Linnaeus (Carl Linnaeus), a Swedish Botanist of the 18th century, came up with a simple
solution, the system of binomial nomenclature. As the name suggests, this system of naming
consists of two words for each organism. The first word is the name of the genus, while the
second word is the species. Both words are italicized, and the first letter of the first word is
capitalized.

 Let us take the example of the elephant again.

The scientific name of the Asian elephant is Elephas maximus. Here

"Elephas" is the name of the genus, and "maximus" is the species.

The African bush elephant is a different organism altogether, its scientific

name being Loxodonta africana.

What if we are hand writing the scientific names? Since we cannot italicize words while writing by hand,
we underline the words separately:

Sometimes, to save time, the [generic name] is shortened to the first letter, followed by a fullstop:
L. africana
The generic and the species names have been traditionally derived from Latin, but there can be other
sources too, including classical Greek, and even names of places and people.

Sometimes, the species name is not specified, and the unspecified species is indicated by the
abbreviation "sp.", which is not italicized. For example, there is another species of the African elephant
called the African forest elephant. Its scientific name is Loxodonta cyclotis. This means that it belongs to
the same genus, Loxodonta, as the African bush elephant.
If we just want to talk about the genus Loxodonta without specifying the species, we can write
Loxodonta sp.

The naming of plants follows the same rules as animals and other organisms. Often, for plants, the name
of the scientist is added in an abbreviated form after the scientific name. For example, the scientific
name for the mango tree is Mangifera indica L., where "L." stands for Linnaeus, the person who created
this name.

SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF COMMON ANIMALS AND PLANTS

Cat- Felis catus / Felis domesticus Guava- Psidium guajava

Chimpanzee- Pan troglodytes Santan- Ixora coccinea
Dog- Cannis familiaris Mango- Mangifera indica
Dolphin- Delphinidae delphins Papaya- Carica papaya
Elephant- Proboscidea elephantidae Lemon grass- Cymbopogon citratus
Frog- Rana tigrina Cotton fruit- Sandoricum koetjape
Giraffe- Giraffa camalopardalis Malunggay- Moringa oleifera
Housefly- Musca domestica Egg plant- Solanum melongena
Tiger- Panthera tigris Kangkong- Ipomoea aquatica
Lion- Panthera Leo Sweet potato- Ipomoea batatas
Philippine eagle- Pithecophaga jefferyi Rose- Rosa rubiginosa
Tamaraw- Bubalus mindorensis Gumamela- Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Carabao- Bubalus bubalis Rice- Oryza sativa
Maize – Zea mays
Tomato – Solanum lycopersicum
Narra- Pterocarpus indicus
Banana- Musa acuminata
Ipil-ipil- Leucaena leucocephala

To summarize, these are the rules of writing scientific names.

1. In general, organisms are identified by their binomial name, consisting of the genus and species
names.
2. The genus name is always capitalized, whereas the species name is not. Both names are always
italicized or underlined.
3. Genus names can be abbreviated by their first letter, but species names cannot. For example,
after initially referring to the leafy sea dragon, Phyllopteryx eques, it could subsequently be
written P. eques.
4. Unknown species are referred to with the abbreviation sp. For example, a seahorse of an
unknown species in the genus Hippocampus would be written Hippocampus sp. Note that sp. is
not italicized.
 5. Some genera have more than one species in them. To refer to multiple species within the same
genus, the genus name is followed with the abbreviation spp. A group of seahorses all in the
genus Hippocampus could be written Hippocampus spp. Note that spp. is not italicized.

REFERENCES:
Exploring our Fluid Earth retrieved from:
https://manoa.hawaii.edu/exploringourfluidearth/biological/what-alive/classification-life

Binomial Nomenclature retrieved from: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/in-in-class-11-biology-

india/x9d1157914247c627:the-living-world/x9d1157914247c627:nomenclature-and-taxonomy/a/
binomial-nomenclature