tax·on·o·my (t k-s n  -m )n. pl. tax·on·o·mies 1. The classification of organisms in an ordered system that indicates natural relationships. 2. The science, laws, or principles of classification; systematics. 3. Division into ordered groups or categories: "Scholars have been laboring to develop a taxonomy of young killers" Aric Press.
[French taxonomie : Greek taxis, arrangement; see taxis + -nomie, method (from Greek -nomi ; see -nomy).]
tax·ono·mist n. Taxonomy of LifeThe taxonomic organization of species is hierarchical. Each species belongs to a genus, each genus belongs to a family, and so on through order, class, phylum, and kingdom. Associations within the hierarchy reflect evolutionary relationships, which are deduced typically from morphological and physiological similarities between species. So, for example, species in the same genus are more closely related and more alike than species that are in different genera within the same family. Carolus Linnaeus, an 18th-century Swedish botanist, devised the system of binomial nomenclature used for naming species. In this system, each species is given a two-part Latin name, formed by appending a specific epithet to the genus name. By convention, the genus name is capitalized, and both the genus name and specific epithet are italicized, for Canis familiaris or simply C. familiaris. Modern taxonomy recognizes five kingdoms, into which the estimated five million species of the world are divided. This table presents a familiar organism from each kingdom and the names of the taxonomic groups to which it belongs. | Common Name | Kingdom | Phylum* | Class | Order | Family | Genus | Species |
|---|
Domesticated
Dog | Animalia
(animals) | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Canidae | Canis | C. familiaris | | Sugar Maple | Plantae
(plants) | Magnoliophyta | Rosidae | Sapindales | Aceraceae | Acer | A. saccharum | | Bread Mold | Fungi
(fungi) | Zygomycota | Zygomycetes | Mucoralis | Mucoraceae | Rhizopus | R. stolonifer | Tuberculosis
Bacterium | Prokaryotae
(bacteria) | Firmicutes | Actinobacteria | Actinomycetales | Mycobacteriaceae | Mycobacterium | M. tuberculosis | | Pond Alga | Protoctista
(algae, molds,
protozoans) | Chlorophyta | Euconjugatae | Zygnematalis | Zygnemataceae | Spirogyra | S. crassa |
* In botanical nomenclature, "division" is used instead of "phylum." Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company |
taxonomy Noun
1. the branch of biology concerned with the classification of plants and animals into groups based on their similarities and differences
2. the science or practice of classification [Greek taxis order + nomia law]
taxonomic adj
taxonomist n
taxonomy, taxology1. the technique or science of classification.
2. the scientific identification, naming, and classification of living things. Also called systematics. — taxonomist, n. — taxonomie, taxonomical, adj.
See also:
Classification
a system of naming things, as plants or animals. — taxonomist, n. — taxonomie, adj.
See also:
Zoology
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
| Noun | 1. | taxonomy - a classification of organisms into groups based on similarities of structure or origin etchierarchy - a series of ordered groupings of people or things within a system; "put honesty first in her hierarchy of values" |
| 2. | taxonomy - (biology) study of the general principles of scientific classificationcladistic analysis, cladistics - a system of biological taxonomy based on the quantitative analysis of comparative data and used to reconstruct cladograms summarizing the (assumed) phylogenetic relations and evolutionary history of groups of organisms |
| 3. | taxonomy - practice of classifying plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships |
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