The animation on the left is simplified to show how the biological classification key is organised from species to kingdoms. It takes the kingdom Animalia as an example.

Species which have a great number of similarities are grouped into a genus. Species which share a common, immediate ancestor are placed in the same genus.

Different genera that contain animals with similar features are then grouped into a family.

Families are then grouped into an order.

Orders are then grouped into a class.

Classes are then grouped into a phylum.

Phyla are grouped into a kingdom.

Consider the animaion above

1) Which species are the most closely related Sapiens and Gorillas Sapiens and Schweinfurthi Troglodytes and Verus

2) A genus is a more inclusive group than a phylum True False

3) Consider the evolutionary tree shown on the right.

a) Do Bonobos, Chimpanzees and Humans belong to the same genus? Yes No

b) Do Chimpanzees and Humans belong to the same genus? Yes No

c) Bonobos and Chimpanzees have 98.7% similarity with Human DNA. Does this make them part of the same species? Yes No

d) Both Chimpanzees and Humans share a common, immediate ancestor. True False

e) Chimpanzees and Bonobos are in the same genus. Why? Yes No it depends on how far each branc has mutated and evolved Not sharing a common ancestor does not put the two species in the same genus.

e) The three animals shown on the right show greater similarity at the level of genus species class kingdom

f) Which two animals are the most closely related? A and B B and C A and C none

The five kingdom classification system was proposed by Robert Whittaker, an American biologist, in 1969.
- Monera
- Protista
- Fungi
- Plantae
- Animalia

In 1990, a new level of classification was proposed that was a higher order than kingdoms, known as domains.

6) Consider two organisms "A" and "B". Organism "A" is a Protist while organism "B" is a Moneran.
a) What are there similar features?
b) How do they differ?

7) According to the classification system above, what are the differences between plants and animals?

9) An organism is unicellular, has a cellulose cell wall and photosynthesizes. In what kingdom does it belong and why?

10) Two animals have been discovered on different continents at the same time by scientists who do not speak a common language. Describe an advantage of having a universal classification system?

11) Which one contains an animal's closest relatives? genus species class kingdom

12) Animals "X" and "Y" belong to the same family. Does this mean they also belong to the same genus?Explain

13) Consider the table on the left, "D" represents the common peppermint gum tree.

a) How many kingdoms are represented by the organisms listed in the table? 1 2 3 4

b) If we were adding a column to represent a protist, such as a paramecium, what taxa would be the same as for any of the organisms shown? phylum and kingdom order and family kingdom only family, genus and species none of the above as the paramecium belongs to the kingdom protista

c) If we were adding a column to represent a chimpanzee which organisms would be its closest relative? A B C B and C D

d) An animal "Y" belongs to the order carnivora would you expect it to belong to the genus panthera? Explain.

Continue with domains
Continue with an article found on the BBC.
Continue with the binomial system of naming organisms.
Continue with insects in the backyard

Continue with taxa