Linnaean taxonomy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:05, 14 April 2004

Revision as of 05:59, 29 April 2004

Line 1:

The '''Linnaean [[taxonomy]]''' is widely used in the [[biology|biological sciences]]. It was first developed by [[Carolus Linnaeus]] in the [[18th century]] during the great expansion of natural history. Linnaean taxonomy classifies living things into a [[hierarchy]], starting with domains or kingdoms. Kingdoms are divided into phyla (singular: phylum) or(for [[Divisionanimals, or (biology)|divisions]] for plants). Phyla are divided into classes, thenand they, in turn, into orders, families, genera (singular: genus) and species (singular: species). Groups of organisms at any of these ranks are called ''taxa'', or ''phyla'', or ''taxonomic groups''.

A summary of this scheme, from most general to most specific:

*[[Kingdom (biology)|Kingdom]]

*[[Phylum (biology)|Phylum]] (or [[Division (biology)|division]])

**[[Subphylum]]

**[[Superclass]]

Line 19:

**[[Subspecies]]

An [[acronym]] [[mnemonic]]s for remembering the major levels of this list in order, via common intials isinclude: "
*'''K'''ing '''P'''hillip '''c'''alled '''o'''ut '''f'''or '''g'''ood '''s'''oup". Others
* are "'''K'''ings '''p'''lay '''c'''hess '''o'''n '''f'''at '''g'''reen '''s'''tools",.
* "'''K'''ings '''p'''lay '''c'''ards '''o'''n '''f'''airly '''g'''ood '''s'''oft '''v'''elvet" (with "v" standing for "variety") and
* "'''K'''ing '''P'''hilip '''c'''ame '''o'''ver '''f'''rom '''G'''ermany '''s'''wimming".

* '''K'''enneth, '''p'''lease '''c'''lose '''o'''ur '''f'''ront '''g'''ate '''s'''oon.

As an example, consider the classification of a [[Butterfly weed]], a species of plant native to roadsides and fields of eastern [[North America]]. The Linnean classification for this organism is:

*'''Kingdom:''' Plantae (all "plants" ~ see, however, [[plants]])