Taxonomy
discipline classifying organisms and assigning each organism a universally accepted name.
Binomial nomendature
classification system in which each species is assigned a two-part scientific name.
Genus
group of level of organization into which organisms are classified.
Taxon
group or level of organization into which organisms are classsified.
Family
group of general that share many characteristic.
Order
group of similar familes.
Class
group of similar orders.
Phylum
group of closely related classes.
Kingdom
large taxonomic group, consisting of closely related phyla.
Phylogency
the study of evolutionary relationships among organisms.
Evolutionary classification
method of grouping organisms together according to their evolutionary history.
Derived character
Characteristic that appears in recent parts of a lineage, but not in its older members.
Cladogram
diagram that shows the evolutionary relationships among a group of organisms.
Molecular clock
model that uses DNA comparisons to estimate the length of time that 2 species have been evolving independently
Domain
most inclusive taxonomic category; larger than a kingdom.
Bacteria
domain of unicellular prokaryotes that have cell walls containing peptidoglycan.
Eubacteria
kingdom of unicellular prokaryotes whose cell walls are made up of peptidolycan.
Arehaea
domain of unicellular prokaryotes that have cell walls that do not contain peptidoglycan.
Archaebacteria
kingdom of unicelllular prokaryotes whose cell walls do not contain peptidoglycan.
Eukarya
domain of all organisms whose cells have nuclei, including protists, plants, fungi, and animals.
Protista
kingdom composed of eukaryotes that are not classified as plants, animals, or fungi.
Fungi
kingdom composed of heterotrophs; many obtain energy and nutrients from dead organic matter.
Plantae
kingdom of multicelllular photosynthetic autotrophs that have celll walls containing cellulose.
Animalia
kingdom of mullticellular ekaryotic heterotrophs whose cells do not have cell walls.