Science:
Taxonomy

I got tired of never being able to remember the middle taxonomic classifications, between phyla and families. So I made this little table. The third column is animals that are with us in that group but who are not in the more specific group one line lower. For example, like us, lampreys are vertebrates, but they're not gnathostomates (jawed fishes and their descendents).

KINGDOM

Animalia

beetle

PHYLUM

Chordata

tunicate

SUBPHYLUM

Vertebrata

lamprey

SUPERCLASS

Gnathostomata

tuna

CLASS

Mammalia

dog

ORDER

Primata

lemur

SUBORDER

Haplorhini*

gorilla

FAMILY

Hominidae

Australopithecus

GENUS

Homo

Homo erectus

SPECIES

Homo sapiens

Neanderthal

*Two alternate classifications exclude tarsiers from our suborder and call our suborder Anthropoidea.

The question of what will go on the next line is a separate rant.

 

—JoT
December 2003

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