Student #_______
Name:__________________________
Period:_______ Date:______________
Worksheet: Naming and Identifying Living Things
Directions: Complete the following sentences using the appropriate words from the word bank.
species
Carolus Linnaeus
organism
scientific name
Latin
scientific name
Panthera
names
two parts
genus
binomial nomenclature
leo
Organisms can have several common or popular _________________________. It might be hard to
identify a(n) _________________________ if it has several names. To avoid this problem, scientists use a
system that gives each organism a _________________________.
For example, the _________________________ for a lion is Panthera leo. _________________________
is the genus name for large cats that roar, and lions specifically belong to the species _____________________.
The language used for naming organisms is _________________________.
The system for giving organisms scientific names was first developed by ___________________________.
His two-word naming system is called ___________________________________. The first part of the name is
the _____________________________, which is always capitalized. The last part of the name is the
____________________________. It is always lowercase.
Directions: The following is a scrambled list of the complete classification of a fruit fly. In the spaces provided
to the left, place the Latin names in the proper order, starting with the domain on line a. Be sure to follow the
rules for writing scientific names.
order—Diptera
a. __________________________________________
class—Insecta
b. __________________________________________
kingdom—Animalia
c. __________________________________________
species—melanogaster
d. __________________________________________
domain—Eukarya
e. __________________________________________
phylum—Arthropoda
f. __________________________________________
family—Tephritidae
g. __________________________________________
genus—Drosophila
h. __________________________________________
Based on this complete classification, what would be the scientific name for a fruit fly?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Follow the rules for
writing scientific
names!!