Taxonomy

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Taxonomy is a science. It is about the classification of all things living. It is part of biology. Every kind of living thing (species) that has ever been found by scientists is given its own name. This name is the scientific classification of that species. The name is the same all over the world, so that when scientists from different places talk or write about the living thing, they can understand each other.

The biggest group is the Kingdom. Each kingdom has many smaller groups in it, called Phyla. Each Phylum has more smaller groups in it, called Classes. This pattern looks like branches on a tree with smaller branches growing from them. Each species is put into a group because of what it does, how and what it eats, special body parts, and so on. At the end of the pattern, the groups (Genuses) are very small. Then each species in the Genus is given its own name. When someone writes about a living thing and uses this name, they only write the Genus name and the species name, like this:

'Felis domesticus''''' (domestic cat)

Felis is the Genus for cats. Domesticus means a cat that lives with people.

When someone writes about this animal, the first time they write its name they will write Felis domesticus. After the first time they write its name, they will only write the first letter of the Genus, so they will write F. domesticus. This is known as binomial nomenclature, because it is a way to describe organisms using two names.

These are the major groups (ranks) used in taxonomy:

Kingdom --> Phylum --> Class --> Order --> Family --> Genus --> species

A mnemonic, or a saying to help a person remember something, for that is "King Phillip Came Over For Great Spaghetti".

Taxonomy rankings
Ranks	Life • Domain • Kingdom • Phylum • Class • Order • Family • Genus • Species
Other	Divison • Subclass • Subspecies