We, human beings have a constant need to classify objects. We organize our purchases at home, for example, separating cleaning products from food products. We also organize our wardrobe, separating underwear from other types of clothing. These actions are essential to maintain the organization and make it easier for us to find something important.

In biology, classifying is also important, and this process has been going on since Aristotle's time. This important researcher classified, for example, animals into organisms that had blood and those that did not. Of course, this classification was not adequate, but it already showed a systematization process that would make life easier for all scientists.

Today, in this article, we will see the Taxonomic Classification, a very important subject in our studies.

Concept

First of all, we need to understand what taxonomy is.

Taxonomy is the biological discipline that defines groups of biological organisms based on common characteristics and names these groups.

Now, let’s go to the taxonomical classification:

The term scientific classification, taxonomy or biological classification, designates the way in which biologists group and categorize the species of living beings, extinct and current. The modern scientific classification has its roots in the Karl von Linnée (or Carolus Linnaeus) system, which grouped the species according to the morphological characteristics they share.

These groupings were subsequently changed multiple times to improve the consistency between the classification and the Darwinian principle of common ancestry.

The advent of molecular systematics, which uses genome analysis and molecular biology methods, has led to profound revisions to the classification of multiple species and taxonomic changes are likely to continue to occur as we move towards a classification system based on genetic and molecular similarity to the detriment of morphological criteria.

The scientific classification belongs to the science of taxonomy or biological systematics.

It’s too much difficult? Let’s simplify.

The taxonomic classification is nothing more than the classification of a living being.

Let's suppose: John is the son of Matthew and Ann. He is 11 years old, and lives in Seattle. This is John, and so it is with animals. This brings out his characteristics, and makes him unique.

The difference is that in the taxonomic classification, we have a common characteristic, and this one is being specified, which really shows that John is unique.

We can take the same example. John likes to study. John likes to study History. John likes to study the History of Ancient Persians.

See? The enjoyment of studying is common, but from there, this is specific, to the extent that we discover that John likes to study the Persian people. The taxonomic classification is like this! Easy, no?

Categories

The taxonomic classification is divided into several categories. I want to emphasize the seven main categories.

Kingdom

The first category is the kingdom! The kingdom is the top category of the scientific classification of organisms introduced by Linnaeus in the 18th century. There are three main kingdoms today.

• Animalia

Animalia, Animal or Metazoa is a biological kingdom composed of multicellular, eukaryotic, heterotrophic living beings, whose cells form biological tissues, capable of responding to the environment (they have nervous tissue) that surrounds them or, in other words, by animals. The humans are also included in the kingdom Animalia.



• Plantae

Plantae (also called vegetable kingdom, Metaphyta or Vegetabilia) is the kingdom of nature that groups plants, in a vast set of multicellular eukaryotic organisms, without motility and predominantly autotrophic photosynthetic, containing cells that generally include one or more chloroplasts, organelles specialized in the production of organic material from inorganic compounds and solar energy. 300,000 to 315,000 species of plants are known, of which the majority, from 260,000 to 290,000 species, are flowering plants. As one of the largest and most biodiverse groups of living beings on Earth, green plants provide a substantial part of molecular oxygen and are the trophic base of most ecosystems, especially terrestrial ones. The branch of biology that studies plants is botany.



• Fungi

The Fungi kingdom is a group of eukaryotic (or eukaryotic) organisms, which includes microorganisms such as yeasts, molds, as well as the most familiar mushrooms. Fungi are classified in a separate kingdom from plants, animals and bacteria. A big difference is that the fungi cells have cell walls that contain chitin and glucans, unlike plant cells, which contain cellulose. The discipline of biology dedicated to the study of fungi is mycology, often seen as a branch of botany, even though genetic studies have shown that fungi are closer to animals than to plants.

Phylum

Phylum is a taxon used in the scientific classification of living things. The word Phyla has its origin in the classical Greek concept of "phylai", the clan-based voting system used in ancient Greek city-states. Phyla are the highest generally accepted groupings and the broadest generally accepted group of living beings that share certain common evolutionary characteristics. This does not prevent the phyla from being sometimes grouped at more general rates, called superfilos (or Latinized version, superphyla), such as Ecdysozoa, a group of 8 phyla, including arthropods and worms; or Deuterostomia (including echinoderms, chordates, hemichordates and quetognatas). In informal language, the designation phylum is used, although with a risk of incorrectness, to designate clusters of living beings based on a common morphological configuration.

Lions are part of the Phylum Chordata, spiders are part of the Phylum Arthropoda, and mollusks are part of the Phylum Mollusca.

Class

Not this class... LOL!

Class is a category used in the scientific classification of living beings, the most widely used taxonomic system in modern biology. In that classification, the Class is the taxonomic category consisting of a set of Orders; the Classes in turn are grouped into Philos (which in botany are often referred to as Divisions).

When necessary, a class can be divided into subclasses, grouping organisms that present a degree of differentiation that deserves to be highlighted.

The class of the rabbits, is the Class Mammalia, the class of the mosquitos is the Class Insecta, and the class of the orchids is the Class Liliopsida. See that we are specifying?

Order

Order is a taxon of high hierarchical level used in the scientific classification system of living beings to group families made up of species that have a high degree of morphofunctional similarity. With the appearance of cladistics, orders tend to group organisms that have a common ancestry, resulting in a high degree of genomic similarity.

In terms of hierarchy, order is a category that lies between the class and the family, and can be included in an intermediate taxon, the superorder.

The pigs are from the Order Artiodactyla, the crocodiles are from the Order Crocodylia, and the tigers are from he Order Carnivorous.

Family

OK, NOW YOU ARE MOCKING ME! STOP RIGHT NOW!

In biology, family is a clade integrated in the taxonomic system created by Linnaeus in the 18th century. The family groups a set of genders, or sub-families, and is included in orders. The dog is part of the Family Canidae, the giraffe is part of the Family Giraffidae, and the pigeon is a part of the Family Columbidae.

Genus

In biology, a genus is a unit of taxonomy (a taxon) used in scientific classification and grouping of living / fossil organisms to group a set of species that share a very wide set of morphological and functional characteristics, a genome with a very high degree of commonality and a very close phylogenetic proximity, reflected by the existence of very close common ancestors.

The genus of a polar bear is the Genus Ursus. The genus of a blue whale is the Genus Balaenoptera. And the genus of a cat is the Genus Felis.

Species

Finally, the last category. Species, is a fundamental concept of Biology that designates the basic unit of the taxonomic system used in the scientific classification of living beings.

Although multiple more precise definitions have been proposed, the difficulty in finding a universal definition for the concept has led to the appearance of the so-called species problem and the adoption of flexible formulations used pragmatically according to the specificities of the biological group to which the concept is applied.

The species of a domestic rooster, is the Species G. gallus. The species of a python is the Species P. regius. And the species of a champignon I the Species A. bisporus.

So, remember the thumbnail. That’s a koala. So, we are going to do a table with the taxonomical classification of a koala!

Scientific name:

Phascolarctos cinereus

Ok. We can see that Koalas are animals (duh!). And they’re also mammals. We can also see that the species always is accompanied with the initial of the genus. And the most interesting: the scientific name is the junction of the genus and species! The genus is Phascolarctos, and the species is P. Cirineus. So, his scientific name is Phascolarctos cinereus!

Almost every in every animal, plant or fungus has this “rule” in scientific names, but it doesn't always happen!

Let’s see the human one?

Scientific name:

Homo sapiens

And here, we see the same rules! The scientific name is the junction of the genus and the species! Cool, yeah?

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