Question

How are organisms named and classified?

Answer 1

Taxonomy is the science by which organisms are classified and placed into hierarchical categories that reflect their evolutionary relationships. The eight major categories, inorder of decreasing inclusiveness, are (I) Domain, (2) Kingdom, (3) Division or Phylum, (4) Class, (5) Order, (6) Family, (7) Genus, and (8) Species. The scientific name of an organism is composed of its genus name and species name. A hierarchical concept was first used by Aristotle, but in the mid-1700s, Linnaeus laid the foundation for modem taxonomy. In the 1860s, evolutionary theory proposed by Charles Darwin provided an explanation for the observed similarities and differences among organisms, and modern taxonomists attempt to classify organisms according to their evolutionary relationship.