The Living World and Taxonomic Categories

Vocabulary and key terminology covering the science of life, Ernst Mayr, the principles of nomenclature, and the hierarchy of taxonomic categories.

Ernst Mayr

A Harvard University evolutionary biologist ($1904-2004$) known as 'The Darwin of the $20^{th}$ century' who pioneered the currently accepted definition of a biological species.

Triple Crown of Biology

The three prestigious prizes awarded to Ernst Mayr: the Balzan Prize ($1983$), the International Prize for Biology ($1994$), and the Crafoord Prize ($1999$).

Biodiversity

The number and types of organisms present on earth, ranging between $1.7-1.8$ million known and described species.

Nomenclature

The process of standardising the naming of living organisms such that a particular organism is known by the same name all over the world.

Identification

The process of correctly describing an organism to determine what organism a specific name is attached to.

ICBN

International Code for Botanical Nomenclature; the set of agreed principles and criteria used for providing scientific names for plants.

ICZN

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature; the system evolved by animal taxonomists for scientific naming of animals.

Binomial Nomenclature

A naming system given by Carolus Linnaeus where each name has two components: the Generic name and the specific epithet.

Mangifera indica Linn.

The scientific name for mango, where 'Mangifera' represents the genus, 'indica' the species, and 'Linn.' indicates it was first described by Linnaeus.

Classification

The process by which organisms are grouped into convenient categories based on some easily observable characters.

Taxa

The scientific term for the categories used in classification (e.g., plants, mammals, dogs) which can represent different levels in the hierarchy.

Taxonomy

The process of classification based on characteristics including external and internal structure, cell structure, development process, and ecological information.

Systematics

A branch of study derived from the Latin word 'systema', which accounts for the identification, nomenclature, classification, and evolutionary relationships between organisms.

Taxonomic Category

A single step or rank in the hierarchical arrangement of classification.

Taxon

A unit of classification representing a concrete rank or category in the taxonomic arrangement.

Taxonomic Hierarchy

The overall arrangement of all taxonomic categories together, which include kingdom, phylum/division, class, order, family, genus, and species.

Species

A group of individual organisms with fundamental similarities; it is the lowest category in the taxonomic hierarchy.

Genus

A group of related species which has more characters in common in comparison to species of other genera; an aggregate of closely related species.

Family

A taxonomic category containing a group of related genera characterized based on both vegetative and reproductive features of plant species.

Solanaceae

A plant family that includes the genera Solanum, Petunia, and Datura.

Felidae

The animal family that includes genus Panthera (lion, tiger, leopard) and genus Felis (cats).

Order

A higher taxonomic category that is an assemblage of families exhibiting a few similar characters, such as Polymoniales or Carnivora.

Class

A category that includes related orders, such as Mammalia which includes orders Primata and Carnivora.

Phylum

A high-level category for animals (e.g., Chordata) based on common features like the presence of a notochord and dorsal hollow neural system.

Division

The taxonomic category used for plants that is equivalent to the rank of Phylum used for animals.

Kingdom

The highest category in the taxonomic hierarchy, such as Kingdom Animalia or Kingdom Plantae.

Homo sapiens

The scientific name for human beings, belonging to the genus Homo and species sapiens.

Musca domestica

The biological name for the housefly, which belongs to the family Muscidae and order Diptera.