Which of these classifications is least specific

Carnivora is the name of the taxon at the order level; Canidae is the taxon at the family level, and so forth. Organisms also have a common name that people typically use; in this case, dog. Subspecies are members of the same species that are capable of mating and reproducing viable offspring, but they are considered separate subspecies due to geographic or behavioral isolation or other factors.

Dogs actually share a domain Eukarya with the widest diversity of organisms, including plants and butterflies. At each sublevel, the organisms become more similar because they are more closely related. Historically, scientists classified organisms using physical characteristics, but as DNA technology developed, more precise phylogenies have been determined.

Recent genetic analysis and other advancements have found that some earlier phylogenetic classifications do not align with the evolutionary past; therefore, changes and updates must be made as new discoveries occur.

Recall that phylogenetic trees are hypotheses and are modified as data becomes available. In addition, classification historically has focused on grouping organisms mainly by shared characteristics and does not necessarily illustrate how the various groups relate to each other from an evolutionary perspective.

For example, despite the fact that a hippopotamus resembles a pig more than a whale, the hippopotamus may be the closest living relative to the whale. Learning Objectives Describe how taxonomic classification of organisms is accomplished and detail the levels of taxonomic classification from domain to species. Key Points Categories within taxonomic classification are arranged in increasing specificity.

The most general category in taxonomic classification is domain, which is the point of origin for all species; all species belong to one of these domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.

Within each of the three domains, we find kingdoms, the second category within taxonomic classification, followed by subsequent categories that include phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The species of an organism determines the second part of its two-part name.

The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the land and waterways on which the Museum stands. Image credit: gadigal yilimung shield made by Uncle Charles Chicka Madden. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more. Skip to main content Skip to acknowledgement of country Skip to footer On this page Toggle Table of Contents Nav What is classification? Levels of classification.

Toggle Caption Blue Butterflies are Morpho spp. The orange and yellow butterflies are in the family Pieridae whites, yellows and sulphurs , and come from Brazil, Peru, Malaysia and Indonesia. The colours in these species are from pigments in contrast to the blue in Morpho. The series of specimens set upside down are the jewelled Nawab Polyura delphis. These specimens come from Malaysia, but the species is also found in India. Levels of classification Taxonomists classify all organisms into a hierarchy, and give them standardised names, that are often Latin or Greek, or derived from other languages and even people's names.

They are, from the most to the least inclusive: Kingdoms is the most basic classification of living things. Back to top. The current taxonomic system now has eight levels in its hierarchy, from lowest to highest, they are: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain.

Thus species are grouped within genera, genera are grouped within families, families are grouped within orders, and so on Figure 1. Figure 1. This diagram shows the levels of taxonomic hierarchy for a dog, from the broadest category—domain—to the most specific—species. Click for a larger image. The kingdom Animalia stems from the Eukarya domain. For the common dog, the classification levels would be as shown in Figure 1. Therefore, the full name of an organism technically has eight terms. Notice that each name is capitalized except for species, and the genus and species names are italicized.

Scientists generally refer to an organism only by its genus and species, which is its two-word scientific name, in what is called binomial nomenclature. Each species has a unique binomial to allow for proper identification.