4.  Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) truly organized the system of naming and classifying organisms, which we now refer to as taxonomy. He introduced seven levels of classification which we call taxons. Let’s take a look at them in order from largest to smallest!

5.  Kingdom  Phylum  Class  Order  Family  Genus  Species

6.  What are some identifying characteristics of each of the animal classes? › Mammals › Birds › Reptiles › Amphibians › Fish

7.  Mammals of North America › http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/ http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/  Reptiles and Amphibians (herps) of Nebraska › http://snr.unl.edu/herpneb/ http://snr.unl.edu/herpneb/ http:/www.mnh.si.edu/mna/

8.  What did you notice about the orders animals are classified into?  What letter did it always end with?

9.  What did the family always end in?

10.  What two taxon give an organism it’s scientific name?  Puma concolor  Mustela nigripes  Mustela lutreola  Which organisms above are most closely related?

11.  Binomial nomenclature is a system of naming organisms in which each organism is indicated by two words, the genus (capitalized) and species (lowercase) names, both written in italics. › For example, the tea rose is Rosa odorata; the common horse is Equus caballus.  The system was developed by Carolus Linnaeus in the mid 18th century.