 Scientists name species and place them in
groups
 Linnaeus developed systems for both naming
species and organizing them into groups
 He named 4,000
species, all plants and
animals based on
appearance
 Today, scientists have named over a million
species
 They use appearance and DNA to arrange
species into groups
 Naming Species
 Scientists use a system called
binomial nomenclature
 developed by Linnaeus
 basis of modern taxonomy
Canis familiaris
 Binomial nomenclature- a two part naming
system used to identify species
 The first part of the name is the genus
 The second part of the name is the species
Ursus arctos
Grizzly bear
 Genus- first part of a binomial name that
groups together closely related species
 Example: genus Felis includes all types of
small cats
Felis sylvestris
wildcat
Felis pardalis
Felis concolor
Mountain lion
ocelot
 Species- the second part of a binomial name
that groups together living things that are so
closely related that they can breed with one
another and produce offspring that can
breed as well
 Some organisms have the same species name,
so it is important to use the combination of a
genus and species to be clear
 Rules for writing scientific names:
 Entire name is in italics
 Genus comes first
 First letter of the genus is capitalized
 Species comes second
 First letter of the species is lowercase
Felis concolor
Mountain
lion
 The Classification System also includes several
larger groups
 7 Levels of Classification:
 Kingdom (least specific)
 Phylum
 Class
 Order
 Family
 Genus
 Species (most specific)
*Kings
Play Chess On Fat Green Stools
Animalia
Chorrdata
Reptilia
Spotted turtle
Clemmys guttata
Testudines
Emydidae
Clemmys
Guttata
NA Wood Turtle Spotted Turtle European Frostweed
Kingdom Animalia
Animalia
Plantae
Phylum
Chordata
Chordata
Spermatophyta
Class
Reptilia
Reptilia
Magnoliopsida
Order
Testudines
Testudines
Violales
Family
Emydidae
Emydidae
Cistaceae
Genus
Clemmys
Clemmys
Xolantha
Species
Insculpta
Guttata
Guttata
 The more names an organism shares with another
organism, the more closely related they are
How do we identify unknown
organisms?
 Taxonomists have come up with tools to
identify organisms to the most specific level
 Dichotomous key- a series of questions each with
only 2 answers, that can be used to identify an
organism’s genus and species
 Field guide- includes paintings or photographs
of familiar species and a map of where they live
so you can compare what you see to what has
already been classified.
 Field Guide – Birds
 Field guide - Trees