CLASSIFICATION
Things you already know:
• What is a species?
• Why are dogs and cats in different species?
• Group Activity: paper and pencil
– Go to your lab group.
– Take off one of your shoes.
– Group shoes according to characteristics.
ex. athletic, dress
CLASSIFICATION
How do you classify shoes?
SHOES
Casual
Athletic
Dress
Every shoe should be described individually
with the person’s name it belongs to.
SHOE CLASSIFICATION
• How did you first classify the shoes?
• As the groups got smaller, did the
divisions change?
• What are some other things that are
categorized or organized into
classes or groups?
ex. grocery stores
How Are Living Things
Classified?
They are put into ever more exclusive groups
1. By appearance
2. By biochemical similarities
3. By embryology
Naming Organisms
What is the
name of this
organism?
Why do
scientist not
want to use
common
names?
The common name of many animals can be misleading.
Ceylon frogmouth
(Batrachostomus moniliger)
is a bird.
Killer whales
(Orcinus orca )are not
whales, but dolphins.
Flying fish
(Parezocoetus mesogaster)
do not fly, but glide.
Galliwasp
(Diploglassus lessorae)
is not a wasp but a
lizard.
Classifying Living Things NOTES:
Why do scientist not use common names?
Confusing – It may have more than one
common name
- Several things may have the same
common name.
Misleading – starfish is not a fish
Why use a
scientific name?
There is only one
scientific name
Felis concolor
Read pg. 300 - 304
Scientific Name
What language is used for the scientific naming?
Latin (ex. "E Pluribus Unum“ = “one out of many or of many, one” )
Since 1873, the law requires that this motto appear on one side of every United States coin that is minted.
What are the 2 parts of the scientific name?
Genus (Latin for group)
general description
organisms share a major
characteristic
species
exact kind
only 1 kind of organism
within a genus
Species name =
describes the appearance or
distribution of an organism.
Taxonomy:
Science of the naming and classifying organisms.
Recognizing Relationships
Tell me something about each of these
organisms.
Carnegiea gigantea
giant saguaro cactus
Nymphaea odorata
fragrant water lily
Canis familiaris
domestic dog
Peromyscus californicus common California mouse
Viola tricolor
three color pansy
Genus + species
names should be used when
referring to an organism.
Species name alone is not enough.
Drosophila melanogaster is a
fruit fly.
Thamnophis melanogaster is
a garter snake.
Read pg. 301
What is the correct
way to write the
scientific name?
drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster
Drosophila melanogaster
D. melanogaster
1. Use the genus & species names
2. Always capitalize the Genus, not the species..
3. Underline it or use italics
Why are scientific names in Latin?
1. The language does not change.
2. It’s tradition. Universal
3. Don’t have to rename millions of
species.
Father of Taxonomy:
Carolus Linnaeus
(1707-1778), a Swedish
botanist whose original
name was Carl von
Linne.
Improved system of
naming plants & animals
by using a two-word
name to identify the
genus and species.
“binomial nomenclature”
Matter of Fact:
How many species are there?
No one really knows how many species
exist. Estimates vary from 3 to100 million.
Taxonomists estimate that only 1.5 to 1.8
million species have been identified, but
there are no central archives.
Sea creatures found after 2005 Tsunami hit.
Read pg. 302 – Classifying Organisms
Today taxonomists
classify organisms
based on:
physical similarities
genetic similarities
biochemical similarities
behavioral similarities
8 Classification Groups
DomainKingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus –
Species -
planet
continent
country
state
county
city
street
house
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/PandasFo
rKids/classification/classification.htm
To help you remember the seven
classification groups in order,
remember this sentence:
Domain
Did
Kingdom
King
Phylum
Phillip
Class
Cry
Order
Out
Family
For
Genus
Good
Species
Spaghetti
Notice how 1 Kingdom will have many phyla.
A phylum will have many classes…
One Kingdom will have 1000’s of species in it.
From the chart below, fill in the missing classifications.
Plantae
Mammalia
Primata
Canidae
Felidae
Panthera
Homo
sapiens
Homo sapien
Read pg. 305 - SPECIES
What is the definition of a biological species?
A group of natural populations that are
interbreeding or that could interbreed, and that are
reproductively isolated from other such groups.
Hybrids – result of interbreeding by individuals
of different species – usually infertile.
* Usually artificially brought about.
Bengal cat = domesticated cat + Asian Leopard cat
mare +
male donkey =
mule
Zebroid
female
Liger = lion + tiger
Wolfdog = German shepherd + Wolf
male
Dichotomous Key: dividing into 2