Taxonomy
Here's a really quick way of testing if you've learned the meanings of the key words in this section.
Look at the key word on the card and see if you can remember its definition.
If you get stuck, you can be shown the mnemonic to reveal an image that should help you remember.
To check if you're right, or remind you if you've forgotten, press the card to flip it.
Go through the whole list to see how many definitions you can recall.
Revisit any that you had difficulty remembering until you're confident you can
recall all of them.
What is taxonomy
The classification of living things
You can remember this if you think of a class of car (classification) called "taxi" (taxonomy).
Who developed taxonomy ranks
Carl Linnaeus
Taxi ranks are basically car (Carl) lines for us (Linnaeus), to see where the taxis park.
The easiest way to remember the order of taxonomic ranks is to picture our mnemonic story. Using this story, what is the order of the seven ranks?
1.
Kingdom
A king decided to visit every school in his kingdom to find out how clever the children were. He jumped into the first taxi to take him on his mission.
2.
Phylum
All the king's helpers filed into the rest of them – file 'em (phylum) – to follow the king on his mission.
3.
Class
The first class they went into was full of badly behaved children sticking their tongues out at the teachers and not getting on with their work.
4.
Order
So the king instructed the teachers to bring the children to order.
5.
Family
One child, a boy, continued to misbehave, so the king decreed that the child's family be brought to school to discuss how the boy's behaviour could be improved.
6.
Genus
At the meeting, the mum and dad insisted their child was a genius (genus), but with an overactive mind that sometimes led to bad behaviour.
7.
Species
Testing the child on a variety of topics, the king and his helpers realised that this was true – he was indeed brilliant, particularly at writing. The king resolved that when the boy was older, he would be employed to write all his speeches (species).
What sentence can help you remember the seven ranks?
King Philip Came Over From Great Spain
Mnemonic
The scientific name combining the last two ranks is known as?
The Binomial system
The genius (genus) who wrote the king's speeches (species) became very fat due to his habit of eating several times a day at the best restaurants. The king came up with a special diet for him – the Buy No Meal system (binomial) that allowed only two named dishes a day made by the king's own cook.
What's the scientific name for domestic cats?
Felis catus
Imagine a cat feeling a cactus (Felis catus).
What's the scientific name for humans?
Homo sapiens
Mnemonic
What's the scientific name for rubber plants?
Ficus elastica
Imagine a group of fighters with elastic bands (ficus elastica) on their faces, inviting people to "come and fight us" at the rubber plant where they work.
What's the scientific name for the common daisy?
Bellis perennis
Imagine a daisy flower made of bells. Each bell is perennially (bellis perennis) ringing (ringing forever).
Which part of the scientific name is capitalised?
1st (genus) is capital letter 2nd (species) is not
At an airport in Latin America (Latin), the upper case was loaded into the taxi first, and the lower case was put in second.
What defines a species?
Group that can produce fertile offspring
Speeches (species) can only be made off a spring (offspring) board that's fertile.
