Linnean classification

1. A way of organizing living things. In biology , plants and animals have traditionally been classified by the structure of their bodies, in a descending hierarchy of categories: kingdom , phylum , class , order , family , genus , and species . For example, human beings are classified as belonging to the animal kingdom , the phylum of chordates , the class of mammals , the order of primates , the genus Homo, and the species sapiens. The scheme is based on a system developed by the Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus in the eighteenth century. There is a debate among scientists about whether the traditional classification system should be retained. Some argue that classifying living things by their descent, with all descendants of a single ancestor being grouped together, is more in keeping with the ideas of evolution ( see cladistics ). Others want to classify organisms by their genetic makeup, using sequences in DNA or RNA . Each of these schemes provides a different way of ordering living things, but there is no “right” way to accomplish this task.

Notes

Plants and animals are usually identified merely by genus and species; thus, human beings are given the scientific name Homo sapiens .