Questions tagged [taxonomy]
Questions on the classification of biological organisms, and the methods used for classifying them.
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Why isn't a virus "alive"?
The recent news about a new supermassive virus being discovered got me thinking about how we define viruses as non-living organisms whilst they are bigger than bacteria, and much more complex than we ...
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What insect is this? (India)
Can anyone tell me what kind of insect (if it is one) is this...!! Or is it the pupa of some insect?
Well I don't think that the whole big thing is the insect itself, it appears to be just a kind of ...
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Do humans have enough biological differences to be grouped into races or subspecies?
After my online research on the subject, I learnt that, biologically speaking, many scientists believe that there is no such thing as a race. Homo sapiens as a species is only 200,000 years old, which ...
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Human evolution: Where *exactly* did the first human come from, whose parents were not?
Layman here. So I have never really quite understood this facet of human evolution, (or any other for that matter), in that, I understand the evolutionary process, but I get lost on the 'border' cases....
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What instances are there in which two species share the same binomial name?
Since binomials are required to be unique only within a kingdom, two species can share the same binomial name if they are in different kingdoms. I know of one instance of this, Orestias elegans: this ...
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Taxonomy: Categorising Collembola [closed]
Observe: In some rows (Order, Family), the third column reveals a discerning physical characteristic or body type (...
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What is a subspecies?
Within a species there may be subspecies that are named using trinomial nomenclautre. For example the Grizzly Bear, Ursus arctos horribilis is a subspecies of the Brown Bear Ursus arctos.
The ...
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Why is traditional rank based taxomomy considered by some as logically inconsistent with phylogenetic knowledge?
Following is from wikpedia:
Under the traditional nomenclature codes, such as the International
Code of Zoological Nomenclature and the International Code of
Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and ...
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What is the scientific name of this evergreen plant?
This plant is found in India. It is an evergreen plant. Would love to know the scientific name.
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Polymorphism in cnidarians?
To me, the phenomenon of polymorphism in cnidarians is particularly troubling. I gather that it essentially refers to existence of various different forms or kinds of individuals, i.e. zooids and ...
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Birds and Dinosaurs
This came up in an argument with some friends. I know that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs, shown pretty clearly through the fossil record. However, is it proper to say that birds are ...
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Why do both the mango and the bee have "Indica" in their binomial name?
In my textbook, it is written that the binomial name of mango is Mangifera indica and the binomial name of a bee is Apis indica. Now in the name the second part is the name of species. But mango and ...
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When has an organism evolved enough to be called a new species?
Imagine that we take a population of horses, split them in half and place them in completely different environments. The two species will evolve separate from each other and because the environment is ...
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Regarding the kingdom Animalia, which phylogenic tree is more common: Molecular Comparisons or Body-Plan Grades
In the picture below, which I obviously do not own:
it depicts two different phylogenic trees, one which is based on molecular comparisons and another one which is based on body-plan grades. My ...
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Insect identification: white spotted beetle
3 pairs of legs, a pair of antenna, wings absent, compound eye, 4-6 centimeter approx. in size.
I found this beetle at my door, in Pune, India.
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Where can I find the common names for the zoology taxonomy?
Forgive me if my question does not belong here or if I'm using incorrect terms, but I'm not educated in biology at all. I'm investigating the workings of the biological classification system.
I was ...
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Binomial nomenclature: Why am I seeing different genera with the same species name?
I have looked online but still do not understand how two organisms can have the the same species names but be in different genera?
Do all genera share common species names?
Also which would be more ...
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What is difference between breed, variant, subspecies and species?
What is the difference between breed, variant, sub-species and species? Are there any similarities between sub-species and sub-population of a region?
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Why are turtles classified as reptiles and not amphibians?
I understand that turtles are reptiles because like all reptiles, they have scales on their body. But turtles (specifically sea turtles) live on both land and water, very much like amphibians. Also, ...
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Is there a downloadable list of all species along with their traditional classification?
I'm looking for a downloadable list of all known (or better said, online documented) species in this straightforward format, as an example the European Frog:
Kingdom: Animalia
Division: Chordata
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Acknowledging differentiation of species, in historical times
This is at least partly an historical question, and I am not even remotely a biologist of any sort, so apologies beforehand if it's a little obscure.
I often wonder how many distinctions were made in ...
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How many (taxonomic) families are there?
Approximately, how many families have been identified?
I've often often come across figures for the total number of species on Earth. Recently, I found myself wondering about the encompassing ranks ...
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How many species did Carl Linnaeus classify?
How many species did Carl Linnaeus (senior) classify?
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Goats are so fearless but sheep are not. Is there any genetic difference responsible?
As you see in the picture goats (not only wild goats) are so fearless, but I never saw any sheep do this. What is the source of this difference in behavior?
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Number of families in Animal kingdom
I found this question about how many taxonomic families there are. That made me wonder how many are just in the animal kingdom alone. I want to know about families not species. Now the linked question ...
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Did Carl Linnaeus ever name a species he never saw?
According to this post Carl Linnaeus named more than 13,000 species which is definitely quite impressive. If we consider a 50 years career it makes about 5 species per week! It would feel impressive ...
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Are mature erythrocytes prokaryotic?
Mature mammalian erythrocytes have all the characteristics of a eukaryotic cell except that they don't have a nucleus, they don't have any cell organelles. Does this mean that erythrocytes are ...
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How to correctly and accurately identify a few species of trees from their leaves?
I want to identify a tree from one of the 12 species listed based on observing their branch and leaves. Is there quick and neat way to do it?
Red Oak, White Oak, Red Maple, Striped Maple, Tulip ...
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What is the difference between these terms: clade, monophyletic group and taxon?
Wikipedia definitions for these terms are pretty similar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monophyletic_group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxon
They sound like the ...
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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 ...
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How does taxonomy work? The case of the Avian Dinosaurs
I recently discovered that the class Aves (or Birds) has been renamed Avian Dinosaurs. My question is when this taxonomic denomination achieved the consensus of the scientific community and through ...
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Is a lion a bony fish?
If you ask Wikidata "Does the species lion (Q140) have a parent taxon line up to the Osteichthyes (Q27207, bony fishes)?", it answers yes:
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Why aren't mammals and reptiles considered amphibians?
We've all heard it: birds descend from dinosaurs, so they're dinosaurs too. But this got me thinking: doesn't this mean that, for instance, all terrestrial vertebrates – including humans – are ...
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Are All Taxonomic Groups Uniquely Named?
The Linnaean classification system classifies and groups organisms into taxonomic groups: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, etc. Obviously, a clade at any taxonomic level is uniquely determined by its ...
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Am I a lobe-finned fish? [closed]
I really wish this question only contained the title and tags, but the website forces me to write some text.