Classifying living things

 Biologists classify organisms by grouping them together closely related organisms which look
alike and share similar features.
 The largest groups in the classification system for living things are called Kingdoms.
 Each kingdom is further divided into smaller groups called phyla (phylum singular) based on a
few features which are shared by some organisms.
 A phylum is then subdivided into classes, which are divided into orders, which are divided into
families, which are divided into genera (singular genus), and finally species.
Vertebrates - an example of how living things are classified
 In the vertebrate group are five classes. They are fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

 Each class is divided up into smaller groups called orders.

 The members of each order have so many features in common that they look alike and are easy
to group.
 There are 19 orders of mammals. Four examples are shown below.
 An order is made up of smaller groups called families.
 The members of the different families look similar but there are differences.
 This can be seen by looking quite closely, as shown in the four families of
whales.

 The members of a family have differences between them and are split up into
smaller groups called genera (singular genus)
 The difference between each genus are found by looking very closely.
 For example, if you look at dolphins A, B and C in fig. below, you will see that A seems to have
more features in common with B than with C. Because of this dolphins A and B are placed one
genus and C is placed in a separate genus.

 Because dolphins A and b have small differences between them, they are placed in separate
groups called species.
 The smallest natural group of organisms is the species.
 A species can be defined as a group of organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile
offspring.
The binomial system of naming a species

 The binomial system of naming species is an internationally agreed system in which

the scientific name of an organism is made up of two parts showing the genus and
the species.
 Binomial means ‘two names’ the first name gives the genus and the second name
gives the species.
 The name of the genus always starts with a capital letter and the name of the
species always starts with a small letter.
 Both genus and species names are always printed in italics
 few common examples.

Modern Humans - Homo sapiens

African elephant - Loxodonta africana
Cat - Felis domesticus
Lion - Panthera leo
Potato - Solanum tubersum
Maize - Zea mays
Classification of humans

kingdom - Animalia

phylum - Chordata(vertebrata)

class - Mammalia

Order - Primates

family - Hominidae

genus - Homo

species - sapiens
1. Look at the following options, A to E, and decide which one is correct. The largest category should be on the
left and the smallest on the right.
A. kingdom, class, family, order, phylum, genus, species
B. Kingdom, phylum, class, family, order, genus, species
C. Kingdom, class, phylum, genus, order, family, species
D. Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
E. Kingdom, phylum, class, genus, family, order, species

2. Why do we classify living organisms into groups?

3. Look at the following three scientific names:

a) which one is correctly written?
Merluccius Capensis homo sapiens Olea capensis
b) state the reason why the one you have chosen is correct?

4. The following organisms of southern African organisms are correctly spelt. Some of the names have mistakes
in the way it is written. Decide which names need to be rewritten to follow the correct pattern of the
binomial system. Write out the correctly written name next to the original.

Bubo capensis a
ASIO Capensis b
Buhrinus Capensis c
meheleya capensis d
Thelotornis CAPENSIS e
Olea capensis f
Alsophiula Capensis g