Taxonomy of Organisms

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The word taxonomy was derived from two Greek
words: "taxis & -nomos" which means
arrangement & law respectively.
In general, taxonomy means the law governing
the classification or arrangement of things into
taxa.
Biologically, taxonomy is an act of Describing,
Identifying, Naming & Classifying (DINC) of
organisms.

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 Taxonomy vs Systematic
Taxonomy Systematics
Theory & practice of Science of classification
classification
Narrow scope Broader scope

Focus on pointing out Focus on construction of

variation and similarity phylogeny of life
of organisms
Influenced by Type Influenced by
concept evolutionary theory
Usually limited to lower Extended to work to
taxa higher taxa
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The four components of Taxonomy
Description is the assignment of features or
attributes to a taxon.
These features are: color, shape, number of
antenae, habitat, nutrition, …

Identification: is the determining of an

organism or a specimen by reference to an
already existent classification.
It involves referring an individual specimen to a
previously classified & named system.

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Nomenclature: Is the naming of groups of

organisms & the rules governing the application of

the names.

Classification: Is ordering/assignment of organisms

into hierarchy of ranks or categories distinguished by

certain characters; or based on similarities and/or
differences.

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Taxonomic work started far in the past by the time
human being started to communicate using written
& verbal language.
Ancient people used to classify plants based on their
purposes as:
Edible plant
Medicinal plants
Magic plants
Ritual plants
Plant for construction etc…
In the process myth, belief & traditional knowledge
are applied.
Such old taxonomy referred to as Folk taxonomy.

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Development of Taxonomy
1. Aristotle (384–322 BC), Greek
He was contributed most extensively to the
development of the modern biology.
He viewed life was hierarchical & he classified
organisms, mainly history of Animals

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2. Theophrastus (370-285 BC)
 He was a keen observer of mainly plants.
 He was the first taxonomist to write down a
classification in a permanent & logical form.
 Forms of plants are: Tree, Shrub, Under-shrub,
Herbs
 He was called the father of Botany by Linnaeus.
 In his book "De Historia Plantarum", he classified
480 kinds of plants based on their habit.
 However, his work reflects the philosophy, which
incorporates the principle of the rules of dichotomy or
the “Excluded Middle”. Any given organisms is either
A or not A.
 According to Theophrastus classification system, there
are no any intermediate organisms. 8
3. Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.), Roman
He was a scholar & naturalist who wrote
encyclopaedic books termed ‘Historia naturalis’,
with 37 volume.
He mentioned & categorized plants in terms
 horticulturalpractices,
 medicinal uses, and

 timber use practices.

4. Dioscorides (1st Century AD), Greek physician

He was studied & described about 600 medicinal
plants in his book ‘De Matera Medica’ with their
useful applications.
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5. Andrea Caesalpinus (1519-1603)
In his book "De Plantis" he illustrated about 1500
plant species.
He classified plants based on definite morphological
criteria mainly on the basis of habit, fruits, seeds,
& ovaries & their position.
He identified five plant groups (families) which are
being used to present time.
These include:
 Leguminosae, (fabaceae)
 Umbelliferae, (Apiaceae)

 Cruciferae (Brassicaceae)

 Borage (Boraginaceae )

 Compositae(Asterace)

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6. Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778),
 Swedish Taxonomist & Physician.
He was the founder of modern taxonomy of both
plants and animals.
Two major contributions of Linnaeus are:
Bionomial Nomenclature
System of Hierarchy of classification
The two most important works are: Genera
Plantarum (1737) & Species Plantarum (1753),
which listed and briefly described the genera &
the species.
his classification system was artificial-which
depends only on few characteristics like stamens
& pistil number and position. Known as sexual
system of classification 11
Post Linneaus era
7. Adanson (1727-1806)
Adanson is most remembered for championing
the idea that in classification one should use a
great range of characters covering all aspects
of the organisms without placing greater
emphasis on some than on others.
This is called an empirical approach.
He was the founder of Numerical taxonomy
Lamark introduced the term Taxonomy with
french version “taxonomie”

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 Modern Views of Classification (Schemes of

Classification)
Modern classification system is based on the
combined evidence of morphology, ultrastructure
& molecular phylogeny.
In classification, though it is organisms that are
being classified, their characters /character states
are used to classify or categorize organisms.
There are five approaches of modern classification.

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1. Artificial Classification
In artificial classification system, only one or at
most a few characters are selected for use in
making comparison among organisms.
Artificial system is monothetic i.e. possession of
unique set of characters/features is both sufficient
& necessary for membership in the group defined.
Theophrastus and Linnaeus are good example of
artificial system of classification.

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2. Natural system of classification
This classification system is based up on several
to many characters selected for their value in
positively correlating with character states of
groups in ranks containing high information
content.
This system is therefore polythetic
No single feature is either essential to group
membership or is sufficient to make an organism a
member of the group.
Adanson & De Jussieu are good examples of
natural classification system.

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3. Phyletic or Evolutionary
It is a classification that aims at reconstructing a
sequence starting with the most primitive
character & ending with the most advanced or
derived character.
It ensures that each taxon recognized as a
monophyletic i.e. has arisen by the
diversification of a single ancestor.
Identification of primitive vs advanced character
and character states made by fossil study.

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4. Phenetics/ Numerical/ taxonomy
This is a classification system developed based up
on numerous characters of equal weight &
their comparison is using computer program.
 According to Harrison (1960), the word "Phenetic"
is to mean a relationship by overall similarity of
all available morphological characters.

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Steps of Phenetics classification
Selection of Operational Taxonomic Unit (O.T.U)
Selection of characters & character states
Description or measurement of character states
Computing or ranking of O.T.U.
Construction of phenogram

5. Phylogenetics (Cladistics) classification

Is the concepts & methods of determining
similarity by constructing branching patterns of
evolution.

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Steps in cladistics
Select monophyletic taxa
Select characters of evolutionary interest.
Describe and/or measure character states.
Determine homologies of characters and character
states.
Generate trees or cladograms.

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There are three domains life(organisms)

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1. Domain-Eycarya-include four Kingdoms
◦ Kingdom Animalia
◦ Kingdom Plantae
◦ Kingdom Protista
◦ Kingdom Fungi
2. Domain Bacteria- One kingdom
• Kingdom- Monera (common bacteria)
3. Domain Archae – one kingdom
• Kingdom Archae
◦ Extraordinary bacteria which live in extreme
environment
• Thermoproteus, (heat tolerant), Halophiles (salty
environment), Methanobacterium

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Hierarchical system of classification
One of Linneaus Contribution is Hierarchical
system of classification.
An arrangement of taxa into an ascending series of
ever–increasing inclusiveness forms is known as a
hierarchical system of classification.
In different levels of categories, each classifying
group, called taxon.

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Domain
Kingdom
Subkingdom
Phylum • Similarity between organisms increases
Subphylum • Number of organisms with in a taxa
Superclass decreases
Class • Taxa in red fonts are are obligatory
Subclass hierarchies
Infraclass • Taxa in black fonts are subordinate and
Cohort
Superorder
non-obligatory hierarchies
Order
Suborder
Superfamily
Family
Subfamily
Tribe
Genus
Subgenus
Species
Subspecies 24
 Kingdom concept
In biology, Kingdom (Latin: regnum, pl. regna) is a
taxonomic rank, which is the highest rank or in the
more recent three-domain system, it is the second
rank below the Domain.

Two kingdom concept

The two kingdom concept existed before the 1950s.
This concept was classifying organisms based up on
the cell wall present versus absent.
Thus, Kingdom Plantae & Kingdom Animalia were
identified.

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 Three kingdom Concept
This concept/approach classifies all organisms in
to three Kingdoms, namely;
Kingdom Plantae,
Kingdom Animalia &
Kingdom Protista (for the intermediates, like some
algae & protozoa, which behave like both plants
and animals.
Four-Kingdom Concept
Kingdom Plantae,
Kingdom Animal,
Kingdom Protista &
Kingdom Fungi.
Fungi are organisms that do have both plant &
animal characteristics.
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 Five Kingdom Concept
Electron microscope revealed that there are
differences in the composition of the cells of few
groups of organisms that were considered members
of Kingdom Plantae, & some members of the
Kingdom Animalia.
Thus, they suggested the Five Kingdom approaches;
which are:
Kingdom Monera,
Kingdom Fungi,
Kingdom Protista,
Kingdom Plantae &
Kingdom Animalia.

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 The Six-Kingdom Concept
This concept classifies first kingdom monera in
to two groups based on the nucleus & other
organelles have or lacking a membrane.
Thus, the six kingdom system was developed, &
these are:
Kingdom Archaebacteria,
Kingdom Eubacteria,
Kingdom Protista,
Kingdom Fungi,
Kingdom Plantae
Kingdom Animalia

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Binomial Nomenclature
Nomenclature is the naming of organisms & the
rules governing the application of these names.
The rules of nomenclature begin from Linnaus’s
of classification where he established the real
beginning of a perfect nomenclature of
organisms.

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In nomenclatural system, each organism is
designated by two names, the first is the name of
the genus; the second is the specific epithet.
No two species can have the same name.
The names are always Latin (or Latinized).
The genus is capitalized while species name is not.
If the names written with hand, they should
underlined from other texts in scientific literature
Example:
 Cannis familiaris (wusha)
 Papio anubis (zingero)

 Malus domestica (apple)

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Purpose of Giving Names
To avoid confusion
To make universal & common naming system across
the world
To save space and time
International Code nomenclature
The code is a rulebook that contains principles, rules
& recommendations which form the basis of the
system of nomenclature.
Generally the code provides stability in the naming
and classification of organisms and ensures that any
given taxonomic grouping of a given rank can have
only one correct name, by which the species is known.

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The Codes are:
 International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
(ICBN)
 International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
(ICZN)
 International Code of Nomenclature of
Bacteria(ICNB)
 International Code of Nomenclature for
Cultivated Plants (ICNCP)
Uninomial rule-the names genus above genus consist
of one term only and called uninominal names .
E.g. -Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, etc (family name)
-Hagenia, Datura, Withania, Pantera, Homonidae,
etc
(genus name)
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Operative Principles of Nomenclature
 Common operative principles are, Publication,
Typification, Priorities, Authorities and citation
1.Publication- Publication is the means by which
scientific names enter to the biological
nomenclature system.
 Primarily the name must be published in works
that are printed in permanent and made
available to the interested public.
 Secondly, a name must be accompanied by a
written matter or a reference to such
description.

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2. Typification- Type is the process of designating a
nomenclatural type, or means by which types are
allocated to taxa.
 The type name of species is specimen
 The type name of genus is species
 The type name family is genus
 There are different kinds of “Types”
◦ Holotype: It is the sole element used or
designated by the author of a name as a type.
◦ Isotype: The duplicates of a holotype.
◦ Syntype: Is any one of two or more elements used
by the author of a name who did not designate a
holotype.
◦ Lectotype: Is an element selected subsequently
from amongst syntypes to serve as a “type”. 34
3. Priority
The principle of priority requires when two or
more names apply to the same taxon.
In this case, the name is given generally based up
on by the oldest one, which is validly published
name.
However, one of the limitations of priority is the
starting-point date, which is the date of
publication.
Names not considered in the above codes:
Homonyms, Synonyms, tautonyms

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4. Authorities and Citation
The scientific names of organisms are often
written followed by one or more personal names or
the author name.
E.g. Rumex abyssinicus Jacq., Plantago lanceolata
L.
A double citation indicates there has been a
change in taxonomic position or rank.
Example:
Carissa spinarum ( Vahl.) L. – spinarum is a
changed name by Linneaus which formerly named
by Vahl

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