Taxonomy:

The taxonomy is the branch of biology, which deals with identification, naming, and classification of organisms. The father of taxonomy is considered as Carolus Linnaeus.

Binomial Nomenclature:

The system of giving scientific name to organisms by using two Latin words is called binomial nomenclature. For example Rana tigrina (Frog). The first word represents genus and the name is called generic name. The second word represents species and called specific name. Some of the scientific names of organisms are given below.

• Man = Homo sapiens
• Lion = Panthera tigris
• Onion = Allium sepa
• Garlic = Allium sativum
• Potato = Solanum tuberosum
• Rat = Rattus rattus

Rules of binomial nomenclature:

• Scientific name should be in two Latin words.
• The scientific name should be italicized.
• Scientific name should be underlined in hand written script
• The generic name should be started from capital letter and the specific name should be started from small letter.
• The scientific name of the two or more organisms should not be similar.

Taxonomic categories:

There are different categories or groups to classify or to include related organisms in same group to make easier for study are called taxonomic categories. Any category of the taxonomic group of any rank is called taxon (pleural-taxa)

Taxonomic Hierarchy:

The arrangement of taxonomic categories based on the taxonomic rank is called taxonomic higherarchy. The highest rank of the taxonomic categories is kingdom and the lowest rank is species.

What is species or why species is called basic unit of taxonomy?

The species means group of individuals having very close relationship and they can reproduce successfully. Below species, there is no any rank of taxonomic category. Therefore, it is called basic unit of taxonomy, for eg. tigrina is the species of frog.

• Genus: The group of two or more species having similarity in many characters is called genus, for eg. Rana is the genus of frog.
• Family: The group of two or more genus having similarity in many characters is called family, for eg Ranidae is the family of frog.
• Order: The group of two or more family having similarity in many characters is called order, for eg Anura is the family of frog.
• Division: The group of two or more orders having similarity in many characters is called division, for eg Gnathostomata is the family of frog.
• Class: The group of two or more divisions having similarity in many characters is called class, for eg Amphibia is the family of frog.
• Phylum: The group of two or more classes having similarity in many characters is called Phylum, for eg Chordata is the family of frog.
• Kingdom: The group of two or more phyla having similarity in many characters is called kingdom, for eg Animalia is the family of frog.