Main Ranks
"2.1. Every individual plant is treated as belonging to an indefinite number of taxa of consecutively subordinate rank, among which the rank of species (species) is basic."
In his landmark publications, such as the Systema Naturae, Carolus Linnaeus used a ranking scale limited to: kingdom, class, order, genus, species, and one rank below species. Today, nomenclature is regulated by the nomenclature codes. There are seven main taxonomic ranks: kingdom, phylum or division, class, order, family, genus, species. In addition, the domain (proposed by Carl Woese) is now widely used as one of the fundamental ranks, although it is not mentioned in any of the nomenclature codes.
| Main taxonomic ranks | |||
| Latin | English | ||
| regio | domain | ||
| regnum | kingdom | ||
| phylum | divisio | phylum (in zoology) | division (in botany) |
| classis | class | ||
| ordo | order | ||
| familia | family | ||
| genus | genus | ||
| species | species | ||
A taxon is usually assigned a rank when it is given its formal name. The basic ranks are species and genus. When an organism is given a species name it is assigned to a genus, and the genus name is part of the species name.
The species name is also called a binomial, that is, a two-term name. For example, the zoological name for the human species is Homo sapiens. This is usually italicized in print and underlined when italics are not available. In this case, Homo is the generic name and it is capitalized; sapiens indicates the species and it is not capitalized.
Read more about this topic: Taxonomic Rank
Famous quotes containing the words main and/or ranks:
“I knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money.... In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Among the best traitors Ireland has ever had, Mother Church ranks at the very top, a massive obstacle in the path to equality and freedom. She has been a force for conservatism, not on the basis of preserving Catholic doctrine or preventing the corruption of her children, but simply to ward off threats to her own security and influence.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)