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Taxonomy: Home

Resources about the hierarchy of taxonomy in biology.

About Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of classification. In biology, taxonomy is specifically the classification of living and extinct organisms.

Find out the scientific name (genus and species) of your species. It is the most precise method to acquire information about a species. But take care. The scientific name may have changed in the past. In the 1990s, many DNA lab techniques were improved and became affordable and plentiful; many scientists used them to sequence the DNA of species and compare them to believed related species. As a result, many species were reassigned within the taxonomic hierarchy and renamed appropriately.

But find out the common names, too, and if there are multiple common names. Some sources will use the scientific name and some will use the common name to reference a species. The professional biology sources will favor the scientific name.

Domain
  Kingdom         

    Phylum            
      Subphylum        
        Class          
          Order
            Family
              Genus
                Species

Taxonomy Sources

Look up the taxonomy (Kingdon, phylum, Order, family, genus, species) of your organism in order to search with it.

Search Strategies for Species Research

More to Come...

  • Hug, L., Baker, B., Anantharaman, K., Brown, C., Probst, A., Castelle, C., . . . Banfield, J. (2016). A new view of the tree of life. Nature Microbiology, 1(5) doi:10.1038/NMICROBIOL.2016.48

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