Term | Definition |
taxonomy | discipline of classifying organism and assigning each organism a universally accepted name |
binomial nomenclature | classification system in which each species is assigned a two-part scientific name |
genus | group of closely related species’ and the first part of the scientific name in binomial nomenclature |
taxon | group or level of organization into which organism are classified |
family | group of genera that share many characteristics |
order | group of similar families |
class | group of similar orders |
phylum | group of closely related classes |
kingdom | large taxonomic group, consisting of closely related phyla |
phylogeny | study of evolutionary relationships among organisms |
evolutionary classification | method of grouping organism together according to their evolutionary history |
derived characters | characteristics that appears in recent parts of 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 two 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 peptidoglycan |
archaea | domain of unicellular prokaryotes that have cell walls that do not contain peptidoglycan |
archaebacteria | kingdom of unicellular 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 multicellular photosynthetic autotrophs that have cell walls containing cellulose |
animalia | kingdom of multicellular eukaryotic heterotrophs whose cells do not have cell walls |