Taxonomical Categories/Rank

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  • Taxonomical categories/ranks represents the group of organisms sharing common characteristics/features. Example: Insects represents a group of organisms sharing common features like three pair of jointed legs.
  • Taxonomical categories include Kingdom, Phylum (for animals) and Division (for plants), Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. Kingdom is the highest taxonomical category and species is the lowest taxonomical category.
  • To place an organism in a particular taxonomical category one must have a knowledge of the organisms characteristics. 
Taxonomical Categories:

1) Kingdom:
It is the highest taxonomical category. There are 5 Kingdoms: Animal, Plants, Fungi, Protista and Monera
Different organisms are placed in different kingdoms based on their characteristics.
Example: a) Organisms that are multicellular, do not possess chlorophyll, cell wall is absent in cell, and are eukaryotic are placed in the Kingdom Animalia. e.g. Human, fishes, frog etc.
b) Organisms that are multicellular and possess chlorophyll, cell wall is present in cell and are eukaryotic are placed in Kingdom Plantae. e.g. Mango, Guava etc.

2) Phylum:
This is the second highest taxonomical category after Kingdom. Organisms sharing common characteristics are placed in same Phylum.
Example: Organisms that possess a notochord and dorsal hollow nerve chord are placed in Phylum Chordata. e.g. Human, Elephant etc.

3) Class:
It is a taxonomic rank below Phylum. There are different classes under different Phylum. 
Example: Organisms that possess mammary glands are placed in the class Mammalia.

4) Order: 
Order is a taxonomical rank below the class. There are different orders under different classes. 
Example: Carnivorous mammals are placed in the order Carnivora.

5) Family:
The taxonomical category below order is called family. There are different families under different orders. Example: Cats are placed in family Felidae. Dogs are placed in family Canidae.

6) Genus:
Genus comprises of a group of related species.
Example: Leopard, Lion, Tiger have several common characteristics and hence they belong to the Genus Panthera.

7) Species: 
It is the lowest taxonomical category. Example: Panthera leo is the species of Lion (leo is the name of species and Panthera is the genus), Panthera tigris is the species of tiger (tigris is the name of species and Panthera is the name of genus)



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