taxonomy

Table of Contents

Introduction
Historical background
- From the Greeks to the Renaissance
- The Linnaean system
- Classification since Linnaeus
The objectives of biological classification
The taxonomic process
- Ranks
- Nomenclature
- Verification and validation by type specimens
- Evaluating taxonomic characters
- Making a classification
Current systems of classification
- Division of organisms into kingdoms
- A classification of living organisms

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

animal taxonomy

Carolus Linnaeus

Whittaker five-kingdom classification

Carolus Linnaeus

For Students

Carolus Linnaeus

taxonomy summary

Read Next

Gray wolf. Grey wolf. Timber wolf. Canis lupus. Canidae. Wolves. Two gray wolves running in forest near Golden, British Columbia, Canada.

Why Do Scientific Names Have Two Parts?

Discover

Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.

Why Is Ireland Two Countries?

Baseball laying in the grass. Homepage blog 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society, sports and games athletics

10 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.

10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci

Diverse elementary school children wearing school uniforms running outside of school. Boys girls

Pro and Con: School Uniforms

The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Alice in Wonderland)

11 Banned Books Through Time

Thanksgiving Celebration Traditional Dinner Setting Food Concept

Why Is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Celebrated on a Thursday?

Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that

America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)

taxonomy: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	systematics

Photos

animal taxonomy

Carolus Linnaeus

Whittaker five-kingdom classification

Carolus Linnaeus

See All Images →

Topics

taxon chemotaxy natural system cladistics key taximetrics species genus cultivar superkingdom philosophy of biology microbiology morphology genetics physiology botany ecology systems biology anatomy computational biology

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

Hitchcock, Albert Spear

Albert Spear Hitchcock

American botanist

David Starr Jordan

David Starr Jordan

American educator

Oka Asajirō

Japanese biologist

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

British naturalist

Huxley, Thomas Henry

Thomas Henry Huxley

British biologist

Carolus Linnaeus

Carolus Linnaeus

Swedish botanist

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

French biologist

Georges Cuvier

Georges Cuvier

French zoologist

Johannes Müller

German physiologist

John Ray, detail of an oil painting; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

John Ray

English naturalist

Ferdinand Cohn

Ferdinand Cohn

German botanist

George Gaylord Simpson

American paleontologist

Frederic Edward Clements

American botanist, taxonomist, and ecologist

Brown, Robert

Robert Brown

Scottish botanist

Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire

French naturalist

Gray, Asa

Asa Gray

American botanist

Julian Huxley

Sir Julian Huxley

British biologist

Albrecht von Haller, detail of an engraving by Ambroise Tardieu after a portrait by Sigmund Freudenberger

Albrecht von Haller

Swiss biologist

Augustin Pyrame de Candolle

Swiss botanist

Mayr, Ernst

Ernst Mayr

American biologist

Quiz

greylag. Flock of Greylag geese during their winter migration at Bosque del Apache National Refugee, New Mexico. greylag goose (Anser anser)

Biology Bonanza

greylag. Flock of Greylag geese during their winter migration at Bosque del Apache National Refugee, New Mexico. greylag goose (Anser anser)

Biology Bonanza