Brainlag PlusThe Linnaean ranks, binomial names, the three-domain system and reading evolutionary trees.
Ranks and names
Linnaeus sorted living things by their structure into ranks, from largest to smallest:
- kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
Each organism has a two-part binomial name: the genus (capital letter) then the species, in italics. The lion is Panthera leo and the tiger is Panthera tigris: same genus, so closely related.
The more ranks two organisms share, the more closely related they are.
The first word is the genus, not the species.
The rest of this lesson and its 9 practice questions are in Plus.
Screen 1 of 3, free to read.
- 9 exam-style questions, marked as you go, each with a worked solution
- Anything you get wrong is saved to your flashcards