Question

Define a Taxon. Give some examples of taxa at different hierarchical levels?

Answer 1

Taxon

1. A taxon is generally referred to as a group of organisms classified as a unit.
2. The taxa at different hierarchical levels are species, genus, order, family, phylum, and kingdom.

Kingdom:

1. The kingdom is the highest level of classification, which is divided into subgroups at various levels.
2. There are 5 kingdoms in which the living organisms are classified, namely, Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, and Monera.

Phylum:

1. This is the next level of classification and is more specific than a kingdom.
2. There are almost 35 phyla in the kingdom Animalia.
3. For Example – Porifera, Chordata, Arthropoda, etc.

Class:

1. The class was the most general rank in the taxonomic hierarchy until phyla were not introduced.
2. Kingdom Animalia generally includes 108 classes including the class Mammalia, reptilia, aves, etc.
3. However, the classes used today are different from those which were proposed by Linnaeus and are not used frequently.

Order:

1. Order is a more specific rank than class.
2. This order constitutes one or more than one similar family.
3. There are approx 26 orders in class Mammalia such as primates, Carnivora, etc.

Family:

1. This category of the taxonomic hierarchy includes various genera which share a few similarities.
2. For example, the families in the order Carnivora include Canidae, Felidae, Ursidae, etc.

Genus:

1. A group of similar species generally forms a genus.
2. Some genera have only one species and are known as monotypic, whereas, some have more than one species and are known as polytypic.
3. For example., lion and tiger are placed under the genus Panthera.

Species:

1. It is the lowest level of the taxonomic hierarchy.
2. There are almost 8.7 million different species on earth.
3. It refers to a group of organisms that are similar in shape, form, and reproductive features.
4. Species can be further divided into sub-species.

Example:

1. Kingdom: Animalia
2. Phylum: Chordata
3. Class: Mammalia
4. Order: Primata
5. Family: Hominidae
6. Genus: Homo
7. Species: sapiens