Taxonomy

This is a complicated subject; indeed, as someone who gave up biology at 'O' Level, I'm not sure how correct the above heading is. Basically, this page is about the classification of living things; and that was the title that seemed to fit best.

I was once taught a very useful mnemonic for remembering the taxonomical rankings, and I think this is a very good place to start. The following table explains:

There are other taxonomical ranks, but these are the main ones.  The words in bold type in the above table show, as an example, the classification of the Bengal tiger.

A group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – representing a single 'branch' on the 'tree of life'		Clade
Plural of genus		Genera

The next table gives some examples of classifications – the sort that tend to come up in quizzes.

The question in its simplest form is "What type of [animal or plant] are ... [see Column 3]?"

This is clearly quite vague. What do you mean by "type"? This page is supposed to be about classification, so I think you need to be a bit more precise.

I've attempted to address this issue by including the first two columns, labelled A and B. If you want to be precise, you can ask "Which (A) of (B) includes (C)?" (For example: "Which phylum of animals includes insects, arachnids and crustaceans?")

If you're answering the question, you don't really need to know that the arthropoda are a phylum; you just need to know that insects, arachnids and crustaceans are all arthropods.

I hope this helps ...

A	B	C
Group	Organisms	Spirogyra, seaweeds		Algae
Group	Flowering plants	Onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, chives		Allium
Class	Vertebrates	Frogs, toads, newts		Amphibians
Class	Invertebrates	Spiders, scorpions, mites		Arachnids
Phylum	Animals	Insects, arachnids, crustaceans		Arthropoda
Class	Vertebrates	Birds		Aves
Class	Molluscs	Clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops		Bivalves
Genus	Flowering plants	Red, green and Cayenne peppers (genus of the potato family)		Capsicums
Class	Molluscs	Octopuses, squids, cuttlefish		Cephalopoda
Order	Mammals	Whales, dolphins, porpoises		Cetacea
Order	Mammals	Bats		Chiroptera
Order	Insects	Beetles		Coleoptera
Family	Birds	Pigeons and doves		Columbidae
Family	Birds	Crows (including the jay, magpie, rook, chough and jackdaw)		Corvidae
Group	Arthropods	Crabs, lobsters, shrimps, sand–hoppers, woodlice, water–fleas, barnacles		Crustaceans
Phylum	Animals	Starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers		Echinodermata
Class	Molluscs	Slugs, snails, and shellfish		Gastropoda
Order	Insects	Butterflies and moths		Lepidoptera
Family	Marsupials	Kangaroos, wallabies		Macropodidae
Phylum	Invertebrates	Gastropods, cephalopods, bivalves		Molluscs
Family	Carnivores	Weasels (including the stoat), badgers, otters, ferrets, martens, minks, wolverines		Mustelidae
Phylum	Animals	Worms		Nematodes
Phylum	Animals	Sponges		Porifera
Group	Birds	Ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, kiwi (all flightless)		Ratitae (ratites)
Family	Rodents	Squirrels		Sciuridae
Order	Reptiles	Turtles, tortoises, terrapins		Testudines
Family	(Plants)	Hemlocks, carrots		Umbelliferae
Family	Mammals	Bears		Ursidae

The following table relates to questions of the form "Which type of ... belong to the ... that's known scientifically as ... ?

Insects	Genus	Apis		Bees
Trees	Genus	Betula		Birch
Insects	Family	Caelifera		Grasshoppers
Insects	Family	Coccinelidae		Ladybirds
Insects	Family	Culicidae		Mosquitos
Trees	Genus	Fraxinus		Ash
Insects	Order	Diptera		Flies
Insects	Family	Lampyridae		Fireflies, glow–worms
Birds	Family	Laridae		Gulls
Trees	Genus	Salix		Willows
Birds	Family	Strigidae		Owls
Birds	Family	Turdidae (genus Turdus)		Thrushes

© Haydn Thompson 2017–21