Identifying, Naming, and Classifying Species

Taxonomy is the field of biology that deals with identifying, naming, and classifying species.

The binomial system was originated by Carl von Linne, better known as Linnaeus.

The first part of the scientific name is the genus (always capitalized and italicized) and signifies very closely related organisms.

The second part is the specific name (never capitalized but always italicized) and signifies an even closer, interbreeding relationship.

The language used for scientific names is Latin for universal recognizability.

The main taxa of the hierarchy from most to least inclusive are

In time, the traditional classification schemes became modified to reflect phylogeny which is the evolutionary relationships among species.

Two different approaches are used to show evolutionary relationships:

Classical taxonomy uses degrees of morphological divergence to construct evolutionary tree diagrams.
In cladistic taxonomy shared derived traits determine the branch points of the tree as in this cladogram