Classification, Taxonomy,
Nomenclature
Taxonomy / Systematic / Classify
What are Taxonomy and Systematic
What is a Phylogenetic Survey?
What is Phylogeny?
What is Ontogeny?
Basic Classification Hierarchy
- DOMAIN
- KINGDOM
- DIVISION or PHYLUM
- CLASS
- ORDER
- FAMILY
- GENUS
- SPECIES
(many levels can have sublevels: e.g. subfamily)
Basic Classification Hierarchy
- DOMAIN (Eukarya)
- KINGDOM (Animalia)
- DIVISION or PHYLUM (Chordata)
- SUBPHYLUM (Vertebrata)
- CLASS (Mammalia)
- ORDER (Primate)
- FAMILY (Hominidae)
- GENUS (Homo)
- SPECIES (Homo sapiens)
(many levels can have sublevels: e.g. subfamily)
Taxon / Taxa
What is a TAXON (pl. taxa)
NO ABSOLUTE way to determine if
something should be a genus, a
family or a phylum
Still there is much agreement as to
what goes in a group such as green
algae or flowering plants or
bacteria
Position in the Hierarchy
There is no ABSOLUTE rank in a hierarchy!
(No ABSOLUTE way to determine
position in a hierarchy)
Despite this most authorities are in
general agreement how to organize
species into higher taxa
An example (using families)
Felidae Canidae
The Species
The only taxon that has ‘biological
reality’
Human Beings (a species)
What is our scientific name?
Species: Homo sapiens Linnaeus
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens
Author Citation: Linnaeus
Classify / Classification
GOAL: a natural classification
A Classification: information storage
and retrieval system
What type of information to use
Everything and anything
(morphology, anatomy, distribution,
cytology, genetics, DNA homologies,
behaviors, etc)
Nomenclature
Naming things
Why a system of Nomenclature?
Why scientific names. Why not just
use common names?
Binomial System
Latinized the names
Very specific rules
Rules (name endings, etc.) currently differ
for plants vs. animals
Classification Hierarchy
- ALL LIVING THINGS (= Storage Building)
- DOMAIN (= a floor in the building)
- KINGDOM (= large storage room)
- DIVISION or PHYLUM (= file cabinet)
- CLASS (= drawer)
- ORDER (= large file folder)
- FAMILY (= smaller folder in
the large folder)
- GENUS (= stapled packet)
- SPECIES (= single page)
Changing Classifications
How many Kingdoms?
Two Three Five Six
Plantae Protista Monera Archaebacteria
Animalia Plantae Protista Eubacteria
Animalia Fungi Protista
Plantae Fungi
Animalia Plantae
Animalia
What is the difference?
Protista also known as Protoctista
Changing Classifications
Changing Classifications
The three DOMAIN system
Not really that different
Archaea are in one domain
Bacteria are in the second domain
All eukaryotes are in the third domain
Kingdoms are the next subdivision
below the domain
The Protists
An ‘unnatural’ group
At the moment it is a ‘collect all’ (like
a junk drawer)
If it isn’t a plant, animal, fungus,
archaean or bacterium, then it is a
Protist
Phylogeny
• Is the representation of the evolutionary
history and relationships between groups of
organism
• A phylogenetic tree also known as phylogeny
• Phylogeny is a diagram that depicts lines of
evolutionary descent of different species,
organisms or genes from common ancestor
Ontogeny
• It is about development of individual organism
• How a living organism develops from conception to the
birth and across its life span
• Salamander begin as an egg, hatched into an aquatic
larvae, and undergoes metamorphosis to become
terrestrial, reproductive adult
