Classification Notes Overview
I.
Classification
a. Grouping organisms together based upon similarities and differences in morphological and
behavioral characteristics.
b. Taxonomy is the study of classifying organisms
i. Found in universities, museums
ii. Necessary for scientific and economic reasons
c. Carolus Linnaeus
i. Known as the “Father of Classification”
ii. Credited for the binomial nomenclature structure of the scientific name that is used to name
living organisms today
iii. “Bi” means two; nomenclature means “naming” therefore binomial nomenclature is a system
where an organism’s name has two parts, a genus name and a species name.
iv. Scientific Name- The genus part comes first and is capitalized like a proper name and
underlined, the species name is second and written in all lower case letters and underlined. The
genus and species can be written in italics to replace the underlining, but they are written in
either italics or underlined, not both.
v. Example: Wolf
1. Common Name = Gray Wolf, Timber Wolf, Wolf
2. Scientific Name = Canis lupis or Canis lupis (Canis is the genus name, lupis is the species
name)
vi. Example: Coyote
1. Common Name = Coyote, wild dog, trickster,
2. Scientific Name = Canis latrans or Canis latrans (Canis is the genus name, latrans is the
species name)
3. Scientific names are used when communicating about an organism to alleviate any
confusion that could be created by using common names which are often different,
depending upon the region of the country or cultural differences in a particular area.
There is only one scientific name for each species of organism. There is no confusion
when identifying an organism by its scientific name.
vii. Organisms only breed within their species. They do not naturally interbreed with other species
in nature. This keeps the species and its adaptations pure. They are adapted for a specific
environment, interbreeding would probably diminish their capacity to survive in the
environment which they were best adapted to. A coyote will not mate with a wolf in nature.
d. Morphological Characteristics (some examples)
i. Height, weight, color, body plan
ii. Legs vs. wings vs. fins
iii. Wings, feather
iv. Number of chambers in the heart
v. Lungs vs. gills
vi. Exoskeleton vs. endoskeleton
vii. These are both external and internal morphological characteristics
e. Behavioral Characteristics
i. Mating behavior
ii. Feeding behavior
iii. Hibernation
iv. Estivation
v. Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore, Detrivore
vi. Decomposer
vii. Nocturnal
viii. Diurnal
f.
Classification Hierarchy
i. Domain
ii. Kingdom
King
iii. Phylum
Philip
iv. Class
Came
v. Order
Over
vi. Family
For
vii. Genus
Gene’s
viii. species
soup
g. Six Kingdoms of Life
i. Archaebacteria
ii. Eubacteria
iii. Protista
iv. Fungi
v. Plantae
vi. Animalia
h. Dichotomous Key
i. A tool or set of instructions that is used to identify an organism’s classification beginning with
kingdom all the way to its species. It identifies an organism’s scientific name. If research has
been performed on the organism, you can find out information about the organism.