Plant and Animal Classification

Although rudimentary biologic classification may predate civilization, the questions of how classifications are to be constructed and even to what use they should be put are by no means settled. Carl Linnaeus, in 1758, published Systema Naturae. This marks the beginning of the modern classification of plants and animals. He devised practical techniques for the naming of groups of organisms and their ranking and ordering. He developed a system of binomial nomenclature - the scientific name of an organism consists of a collective generic name and a specific or species name. His techniques are basically intact today. Of course, there are numerous philosophies and methods of classification which are in use today which help add to the overall confusion in the world of taxonomy. Linnaeus' great contribution was to provide order in the method used in the classification of living organisms.

18.1 The Linnaean Hierarchy

The great name in the biological taxonomy is the Swedish botanist Carl von Linn (1707-1778). He developed both a system for naming species and for organizing living beings. Linnaeus's system for naming species has not changed since the publication of 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758. Each species has a name in Latin composed of two distinct words (why it is known as the binomial nomenclature). The first word is capitalized and describes the genus of the species, the second the species itself. Both names are written in italic in texts. The genus is a noun and the species epithet is an adjective. Any citation of a species must include both names. All ranks above the species are capitalized but only the genus is italicized. All names must be unique and universal and should be kept stable. "Linnaeus's scheme of arranging organisms is a hierarchical system of classification. The major categories, or taxa (sing. taxon) are given one of several standard taxonomic ranks to indicates the levels of similarities between all the members of the group. The system has been considerably expanded since Linnaeus and includes 7 mandatory ranks: in increasing level of similarities kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. All species described must belong to at least 7 taxa , one at each of the mandatory level. Taxonomists have the option of subdivizing these 7 ranks into further taxa (superclass, subclass, superorder, suborder, subfamilies, etc.) for any particular group of organisms. Today, more than 30 taxonomic rank have official status and used in particularly large and complex groups such as insects." Linnaean Hierarchy Kingdom (Animalia)

Phylum (Chordata) Class (Mammalia) Order (Primates) Family (Hominidae) Genus (Homo) Species (Homo sapiens)

The first edition of Systema Naturae (1735) had only eleven pages. Linnaeus later published new editions, adding new plant and animal species and also changed the classification. In the 10th edition (1758), for example, he moved the whales from the fishes to the mammals. The final edition was the 13th edition from 1770 which comprised 3000 pages.

18.1.1 Animal Classification Animals are classified according to the Linnaean system. This consists of the following scheme, for example, in the classification of several edible invertebrates. Each organism is uniquely identified using a combination of its genus and species names. Species are grouped into genera, families, orders, classes, and phyla, depending upon similarities and inferred evolutionary relationships. The names of genera are required by the rules of nomenclature to be unique. But such rules do not apply to other taxons, even though duplicate names should be avoided. A category designates a given rank or level in a hierarchic classification. Such terms as species, genus, family, and order designate categories. A category is an abstract term. The organisms placed in these categories are concrete zoological objects. Organisms, in turn, are not classified as individuals, but as groups of organisms. Words like "bluebirds" or "thrushes" refer to such groups. These are the concrete objects of classification. Any such group of populations is called a taxon if it is considered distinct to be worthy of being formally assigned to a definite category in the hierarchic classification. Categories, which designate rank in a hierarchy, and taxa (plural for taxon), which designates named groupings of organisms, are thus two very different kinds of phenomena. Controversy usually reigns supreme over whether or not a particular group is truly distinct enough to be a new taxon. If it is a new taxon, taxonomists then determine which category the taxon will be placed in.

Much of the task of the taxonomist consists of assigning taxa to the appropriate categorical rank. The hierarchy of categories that the classifying taxonomist recognizes is an attempt to express similarity ("characters in common") and recency of common descent. The most closely related species (occasionally subject to intense debate) are combined into genera, groups of related genera into subfamilies and families, these into orders, classes, and phyla. In this procedure there is a drastic difference between the species taxon and the higher taxa (genus on up to phylum). Higher taxa are defined by intrinsic characters. For instance, the Class Aves (birds) is the class of "feathered vertebrates". Any and all species that satisfy the definition of "feathered vertebrates" belong to the Class Aves. Species Groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups. May or may not be morphologically distinct. Genus The lowest higher category. A taxonomic category containing a single species, or a monophyletic group of species, which is separated from other taxa of the same rank by a decided gap (behavior, morphology, or some other characteristics). If these three species belong to the same genus, they are descended from a common ancestor.

Family A taxonomic category including 1 genus or a group of genera of common phylogenetic origin, which is separated from other families by a decided gap. Currently, there are about 26 known phyla, 80 classes, and 350 orders of extant animals. As one goes up the hierarchic scale from the species rank up to phylum, each category becomes more inclusive.

When a species is collected and it is new to science, the most important rules of ICZN cover: 1. Choice of a name - must be Latin, must not be already used, and it must be in binomial form. 2. The name must be published in a well respected, preferably international, scientific journal. 3. The publication must include a description of the new species. 4. Described species must be accompanied by a type or preferably a set of type specimens which must be accessible to scientists from the world over (i.e. the type specimens are placed into a museum which allows access to all).

An outline of animal classification is as follows.

Following is the study of the general characters of animals of each group from the above chart.

Kingdom- EUKARYOTA: Organisms of this kingdom have cells with a well developed nucleus. This nucleus has nuclear membrane and nucleolus. The cytoplasm consists of well developed organelles like golgi apparatus, mitochondria, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum etc. The kingdom Eukaryota includes all animals. This kingdom has two subkingdoms, namely protista and metazoa. Sub-Kingdom : PROTISTA :The sub-kingdom Protista includes the organism which are structurally unicellular or multicellular, but functionally unicellular. The animals included in this sub-kingdom have lower level body organization. The phylum protozoa is the group of animals of such lower level body organization. The general characters of the animals of the phylum protozoa have already been studied in previous chapter. E.g. Amoeba, paramecium.

Sub-Kingdom- METAZOA:Except protozoans all animals are multicellular. These animals are placed under the subkingdom Metazoa which is divided into two divisions- Parazoa and Eumetazoa.

18.2 Plant Classification

George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker - Two English taxonomists who were closely associated with the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew, England have given a detailed classification of plant kingdom, particularly the angiosperms.

fig. 18.1 - Taxonomists: Bentham and Hooker They gave an outstanding system of classification of phanerogams in their Genera Plantarum which was published in three volumes between the years 1862 to 1883. It is a natural system of classification. However, it does not show the evolutionary relationship between different groups of plants, in the strict sense. Nevertheless, it is the most popular system of classification particularly for angiosperms. The popularity comes from the face that very clear key characters have been listed for each of the families. These key characters enable the students of taxonomy to easily identify and assign any angiosperm plant to its family. It is a natural system of classification and is relies on significant characters of the plants. Yet today this system is being followed in United Kingdom (UK) and various other Commonwealth countries. It is also employed in several herbaria and botanical gardens all across the world. It is a well recognized and extensively accepted classification of seeded plants. The system of classification of George Bentham and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was introduced in 'Genera Plantarum' in three volumes and they had explained 97,205 species of seeded plants in 202 orders (now considered to as families). In classification of plants of Bentham and Hooker, the current day 'orders' were considered to as 'cohorts' and 'families' as 'orders'.

Bentham and Hooker have grouped advanced, seed bearing plants into a major division called Phanerogamia. This division has been divided into three classes namely:

- Dicotyledon, Gymnosperm and Monocotyledon. Class I Dicotyledon Seeds of dicotyledonous plants consist of two cotyledons. Leaves depict reticulate venation. Flowers are tetramerous / pentamerous comprising four or five members in several floral whorls correspondingly. It involves three sub-categories Gamopetalae, Polypetalae, and Monochlamydeae. Sub-class I Polypetalae Plants comprising flowers along with free petals come within polypetalae. The flowers are with different calyx and corolla. Polypetalae is additional divided into 3 series - Thalamiflorae, Disciflorae and Calyciflorae. Series (i) Thalamiflorae It involves plants comprising flowers with dome or conical thalamus. Ovary is superior. Thalamiflorae involves 6 orders and 34 families. The family Malvaceae is located in the order Malvales. Series (ii) Disciflorae It involves flowers comprising prominent disc shaped thalamus below the ovary. Ovary is superior. Disciflorae is separated into 4 orders and 23 families. Series (iii) Calyciflorae It involves plants comprising flowers with cup shaped thalamus. Ovary is superior or inferior sometimes half inferior. Calyciflorae involves 5 orders and 27 families. Sub-class 2. Gamopetalae Plants comrising flowers with petals that are either partially or totally fused to one another are located under Gamopetalae. The sepals and petals are different. Gamopetalae is further categorized into three series - Inferae, Heteromerae and Bicarpellatae. Series (i) Inferae The flowers are epigynous and ovary is inferior. Inferae involves 3 orders and 9 families.

Series (ii) Heteromerae The flowers are hypogynous and ovary is better with more than two carpels. Heteromerae involves 3 orders and 12 families. Series (iii) Bicarpellatae The flowers are hypogynous and ovary is superior with two carpels only. Bicarpellatae involves 4 orders and 24 families. The family Solanaceae is positioned in the order Polemoniales. Sub-class 3. Monochlamydeae Plants comprising flowers with single whorl of perianth are positioned under Monochlamydeae. Flowers are incomplete. The sepals and petals are not differentiated and they are called perianth. Tepals are exists in two whorls. Occasionally both the wholrs are not present. Monochlamydeae involves 8 series and 36 families. The family Euphorbiaceae is positioned in the series Unisexuales. Class II Gymnospermae The members of Gymnospermae class have naked ovules or seeds. Ovary is not present and gymnospermae involves three families - Gnetaceae, Coniferae and Cycadaceae. Class III Monocotyledon Seeds of monocotyledonous plants consist of only one cotyledon. Leaves depict parallel venation. Flowers are trimerous comprising three members in several floral whorls. The plants contain fibrous root system. The Monocotyledon includes 7 series and 34 families. The family Musaceae is positioned in the series Epigynae.

Fig. 18.2: Outline of Bentham and Hooker's classificiation of plants