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System of Classification of Living Things
Site: KWASU-Virtual Printed by: Abdulazeez ADEREMI
Course: UG2425GNS309 - Issues in Physical and Life Sciences Date: Friday, 7 February 2025, 9:26 PM
Book: System of Classification of Living Things
Table of contents
1. Classification of Living Things
2. Binomial System of Nomenclature
1. Classification of Living Things
Classification of Living Things consists of placing together in categories those things that resemble each other. It involves placing living things into
groups that have certain features in common which distinguish them from other groups.
The system of classification used today is based on that introduced by a Swiss scientist called Car Von Linne (1707-1778). His name was Latinized to
Carolus Linnaeus. He published the classification of plants in 1753 and that of animals in 1758.
Living Things are first split into Kingdom. The Kingdoms are further split into a large number of smaller groups called Phyla (singular Phylum) for
animal and divisions for plants.
All members of a phylum or division have certain features in common. Each phylum or division is broken down into classes. Each class is further down
into orders, orders into families, families into genera (singular genus), and genera into species.
The arrangement of living things in this hierarchy from the highest to the lowest is summarized in the groups used in classification of living things.
These are:
Figure 1. Arrangement of living things
The basic unit of classification of living things is the species. Species is the smallest unit containing members which have the largest number of
features in common and usually interbreed among themselves, but a member of one species cannot interbreed with a member of another species. For
examples, all human beings belong to one species and all monkeys belong to a different species. So, both humans and monkeys cannot interbreed.
The basic unit of classification of living things is the species. Species is the smallest unit containing members which have the largest number of
features in common and usually interbreed among themselves but a member of another species. For examples, all human beings belong to one species
and all monkeys belongs a different species. So both human beings and monkeys cannot interbreed.
Table 1. The classification of Human and Lion
Class Human Lion
Kingdom Animalia Animalia
Phylum Chordata Chordata
Class Mammalia Mammalia
Order Primates Carnivora
Family Horminidae Felidae
Genus Homo Panthera
Species Sapiens Leo
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2. Binomial System of Nomenclature
Carolus Linnaeus also introduces a system of naming living things which is popularly used by biologists today. This system is called binomial system of
nomenclature. In this system, each organism or living things is given two names, hence the term binomial nomenclature. The first name is the generic
name (common to the genus) and it always begins with a capital letter. The second name is the specific name which begins with a small letter. These
scientific names are written in italics or are underlined. Examples of scientific names of some organisms are given below.
1. Man ` - Homo sapiens
2. Lion - Panthera leo
3. Maize - Zea mays
4. Rat - Rattus rattus
5. Dog - Canis Domestica
6. Housefly - Oryza sativa
7. Orange - Citrus sativa
8. Cocoa - Theobroma cacao
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