Questions tagged [taxonomy]

Questions on the classification of biological organisms, and the methods used for classifying them.

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What are the differences and relationships between online plant taxonomy databases (POWO, WFO, WCSP, WCVP), and is one considered the most reliable?

Each of these databases has their own summary of their aims and process - but they rarely seem to mention each other in comparison. It's hard to figure out what differences or relationships exist ...
user71246's user avatar
5 votes
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116 views

Identification of Jumping Spider Species

I found this jumping spider (Salticidae family) in Pune/India. Most common species of jumpers in my region is heavy-bodied jumper (Hyllus semicupreus), but this is different species by observing body ...
Sisyphus's user avatar
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Help me identify this fly species?

I found this fly in Bengaluru/India. It was larger than usual flies. It was more than 1cm in size, with black color which has blue shades in it. I managed to take just this one pic, then it flew away.
Sisyphus's user avatar
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4 votes
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References for historical momentum in asexual species definitions

For sexually reproducing organisms, the scope of a species is somewhat fixed by reproductive compatibility. However, this all collapses for organisms that exclusively reproduce asexually. Here, my ...
Wrzlprmft's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
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Why are bovines different genera if they can interbreed?

Why are bovinae a "subfamily", above Genus, when members can interbreed? Some like the beefalo are fertile, which is the normal defining characteristic of a species. And Genus are groups more ...
JDługosz's user avatar
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3 votes
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Is there a taxonomy of species with emergence and extinction dates?

I know the NCBI has a list of each species and their place in the evolutionary tree. But do they have the dates that these species existed? Does any such database (partial or complete) exist anywhere? ...
Lance's user avatar
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When a 'v' letter should be changed to 'w' in botanical nomenclature?

When should be 'v' changed to 'w' in botanical names? (especially ones derived from names originally written in cyrillics). The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants says ...
Nick L's user avatar
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Pre-linnaean names, where can I ask about current IDs?

I run a large website with lots of historical herb books. For the older ones, finding out current botanical names is very difficult. Can I ask here? If not, does anybody know where I could ask what ...
HeK's user avatar
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For which taxonomic levels are xylotomical, embryological, and palynological evidence each most useful in determining species relationships?

From the 2010 USABO Semi: In plant systematics, three lines of evidence may be useful in determining relationships; xylotomical (wood anatomy), embryological and palynological. Match these ...
fooorest's user avatar
3 votes
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204 views

Taxonomy and 'breeds' of animal species

How do taxonomists classify breeds of organisms in a species? When talking in such depths about organisms (using RNA and DNA), don't they have to unavoidably do it? I read in another question that ...
Ramana's user avatar
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More general usage of the term 'congener'

In taxonomy the term 'congener' refers to two species within the same genus. In more colloquial usage, it can refer to any two objects within the same category. Is there a way to refer to related ...
Daniel Standage's user avatar
2 votes
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What is the current state of research on the relationship between sponges, ctenophores, and other animals?

I've been reading about the basal taxonomy of animals recently, and it seems as though there is some controversy surrounding the classification of sponges, ctenophores (comb jellies), and all other ...
M. Sperling's user avatar
2 votes
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30 views

What websites biologists use to check what new plant or animal species have been discovered in the world?

What are the databases or websites that biologists use to check what new plants or animals have been found in the world? The service should list the location of the discovery, time of discovery, image ...
gk582lf582s's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
723 views

How many kingdoms are there actually?

I am wanting to learn (memorise) some of the tree of life; the classification of organisms. So I have come across a lot of kingdoms in my research. Basically, I don’t want to waste my time learning ...
Chris Whitehead's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
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What is the current status of the taxon Crocodylus raninus?

What is the current status of the taxon Crocodylus raninus, the Borneo Crocodile? See Wikipedia Is it now a valid species, a subspecies of Crocodylus porosus (The Saltwater Crocodile) or merely a ...
Triceratops's user avatar
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Using spp. for taxa other than Genus

Can spp. be used for taxa other than genus ? For example Noctuidae spp. meaning certain genera in the Noctuidae family.
eric 's user avatar
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Appropriateness of PCA to visualize clusters in genetic data

In many genetic studies, PCA is often utilized to examine genetic cluster in human populations. Rarely is the % variance reported for the components. With human data it's been my experience that the ...
Rudy Winono's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
50 views

what is the classification of this stream insect?

This insect I found from Southers region of Bangladesh. Its limbs are larger than its body.and the picture shows its dorsal part.
Zannatul Nayem's user avatar
2 votes
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40 views

Plant determination: Lilium monadelphum versus L. szovitsianum

Lilium monadelphum, L. szovitsianum and L. armenicum belong to group of yellow flowering Lilium species and they are both often cultivated. These species come from Caucasus area, so the first two are ...
Kryštof Chytrý's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
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How detailed a construction of the family tree of known human fossils do we have?

For the sake of this question, by "human" I mean Hominina. The best I could find is this, which isn't very detailed. Of the dozens of paleospecies we'd seek to link up, do we have a more detailed tree ...
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Gorgonopsid--What's In a Name?

The Gorgon--a terrifying, monstrous female with hairs made of live snakes and a stare so horrifying that it would literally turn you to stone. The Gorgonopsid--a predatory protomammal that hunted ...
JohnWDailey's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
184 views

Insect identification: Fly with eye strip

Location details: Country - India, State - Tamil Nadu, District- Chennai. Found this fly in my backyard keen to know its exact name. Thanks for the help
SaravanaRaja's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
133 views

Bruhathkayosaurus matleyi current status and size estimates

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqVqW9A-6eo I watched this YouTube video about Bruhathkayosaurus matleyi and he basically makes three interesting assertions: The illium used to define ...
Triceratops's user avatar
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1 vote
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Plants taxonomy: priority of names published in the same year

Article 11.3 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants states that the earliest valid name with the same rank has the priority. The question is: if two names (or more...) ...
dandelion's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
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Taxonomy of viruses

There is a distinction drawn in the ICTV code between "valid names" and "accepted names". Valid names are those that are published and comply with the rules outlined in the code, ...
alephreish's user avatar
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1 vote
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Identify grasshopper species

I found this grasshopper on a house door in central Italy. It did not move for the whole day. I can tell it's a grasshopper, however I am unable to determine the exact species. Size: ca. 6cm Feel free ...
Algae's user avatar
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1 vote
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Can you identify this caterpillar?

Hi on my walk home in may i found this larvae crawling on a small road between grass and fields. All the yellowish larvae i know are looking totally differend than this. The origin of this picture is ...
CoDa's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
21 views

What is the current accepted taxonomy of the Citrus genus, and how do common cultivated fruits fit into it?

I want to learn about the taxonomy of Citrus, and how cultivated fruits fit into it. I know that the history of cultivated citrus fruits is full of hybridisation and that the taxonomic classifications ...
Avery's user avatar
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1 vote
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Question about the use of Var. in different species

I just recently started studying Taxonomy and seem that I am the only one that got such question in the Internet...so pardon if this is a silly question...and my silly grammar because it is not my ...
RabbitTZY's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
441 views

Eukaryotic DNA polymerase in Leading and Lagging Strand

Different books say a different specifications on which eukaryotic DNA polymerase work in leading strand and which DNA polymerase work in lagging strand. TL,DR: Which one is reality? and if there ...
Always Confused's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
37 views

Help me identify Grasshopper

I found this Grasshopper in Goa/India. It was about 2cm long. I suspect it is from Cataloipus genus or Gomphocerinae subfamily. Am i correct or it also seems to be juvenile from some other species?
Sisyphus's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
35 views

How are asexual species classified?

Are there multiple distinct genetic lineages of asexual species that are closely enough related to not be considered distinct or does any genetic change result in a new species? I would assume there'...
William Grobman's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
26 views

How related do life forms need to be to produce hybrids?

Specifically, I'm asking about infertile hybrids like ligers, mules, camas, etc. How closely related do animals need to be?
Dead Knight's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
45 views

Have traditional categories such as phylum, class, genus, been dispensed with in modern taxonomy?

Looking through the one zoom and EOL projects I see no reference to such categories.
EarthDemon's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
162 views

Example Clade Names in PhyloCode

After looking through the PhyloCode, the only thing I found that looked like an example was in Article 9, Chapter 4: A node-based definition may be abbreviated "<A&B" or "<A&B&C&...
Lance's user avatar
  • 759
1 vote
0 answers
44 views

need to identify species of this Leaf-footed bug?

I found this bug in Pune/India. I checked many species of leaf-footed bugs, but none of them is matching this one. It was about 3cm long. It was not showing any movement.
Sisyphus's user avatar
  • 397
1 vote
0 answers
34 views

How would extraterrestrial organisms be categorized?

Suppose we find bacteria on Mars, we sequence its genome, and find it is genetically similar to $E. Coli$. Would we categorize it in the $Escherichia$ genus? Or would we put it into a seperate system ...
mcchucklezz's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
112 views

Book for molecular biology comparative to major taxonomic groups

Want recommendation of books on molecular biology (or molecular cell biology), that elaborately compares the structures and phenomena in the major taxonomic groups. For say, whenever studying about ...
Always Confused's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
27 views

Why are some bird species placed as family Incertae sedis while some families are simply monotypic?

The Bananaquit and Western Spindalis are passerines of Incerta sedis. But species such as the Osprey, Limpkin and Olive Warbler belong to their own, monotypic, family. Why aren't Bananaquit and ...
Repomeister's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
25 views

Is there a resource for comparing categories of life along quantifiable dimensions such as species diversity, geographic range, total mass, etc?

Ideally what I would like is some sort of interactive, sliceable tabular data along the lines of my examples below. The curious individual specifies the level of taxonomic rank, e.g. Kingdom or Class ...
Philip's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
262 views

Why is Hydra classified under Hydrozoa when it has neither a planula larva, nor a medusoid form?

If the general basis of classification of cnidarians is with respect to the body form - medusoid or polypoid, or in the incidence of metagenesis (as is common in hydrozoa), both, then, on what basis ...
user26831's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
45 views

What is the percentage of true bugs compared to all animal species on the plant?

Also, what is the percentage of True Bugs compared to the insect population? I’m writing a children’s book on bugs and I’m comparing the true bug to the insect. All population info seems to combine ...
Belinda's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
525 views

Protostomia classification and characteristics

While working through a practice test for my final exam in an introductory organism biology course, I came across this question: Protostome characteristics include which of the following? a) a ...
AuditionMD's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
28 views

Machine-readable APG III trees?

Does anyone know where I can find a machine-readable version of the phylogenetic trees from APG III? I'm looking for something that contains the full tree structure, including unnamed branches. (i.e....
Kevin Walker's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
17 views

Where should one start if they want to go about identifying phytoplankton and dinoflagellates?

I'm a first year university student and I really need help on how to identify and recognize the different organisms observed in my water samples. Are there any good references/tips on how to?
Nick's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
25 views

What are the main principles of the Bacteriological Code?

Although the Bacteriological Code is an important guideline for taxonomists and microbiologists, describing the criteria for delineating species and higher taxa of the prokaryotes, I, and plenty of ...
DaanV's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
73 views

Endemic plant families on islands?

Endemism on islands is quite a common phenomenon, at least at the level of species or genera. Old continental fragments like Madagascar or New Caledonia may even harbour endemic families which went ...
ChrKoenig's user avatar
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0 votes
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Current Fern Taxonomy

In our school, the manual exhibits an outdated taxonomy as expressed by my teacher. We're following the Kingdom Plantae, Division Pterophyta, then divided into three Orders: Order Filicales Order ...
Jj Luntayan's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
44 views

There are plants and animal genera with the same Latin name. What are the scopes of uniqueness?

The genus Leptochilus occurs as a genus of wasps, and of a genus of ferns. What are the parts of the phylogenetic tree where uniqueness is required, and how many of them are they? (Where can I read ...
Falko's user avatar
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Good source for current taxonomic keys

I’ve recently taken back up my interest in entomology and taxonomy. I used to be a biologist, but have long since moved to another field to make my way. I realize that all of my taxonomic keys are ...
box1763's user avatar