LABORATORY ACTIVITY 1 | INTRODUCTION TO TAXONOMY

AND NOMENCLATURE
INTRODUCTION

Taxonomy

Scientists believe all life as we know it has evolved from a common ancestor. This
ancestor, often known by the term LUCA (last universal common ancestor), was
believed to be alive around 3.5 billion years ago. Since this point, life has become varied
through evolution to the wide and beautiful array of life we see all over the planet.

Nobody knows exactly how many different species exist on Earth. We have discovered
just around 1.3 million species, but scientists predict that there are several million more
out there that we haven’t discovered yet. New species are constantly being discovered
and added to the ever-growing list. It has been a huge challenge for scientists to catalog
and organize these different organisms. The classifying of organisms is known as
taxonomy. The system most used is based on the characteristics of living things and this
taxonomy was first formalized by Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus) in the eighteenth
century. The system involves sorting living things into groups and breaking those groups
into multiple subgroups.

The largest groups of life are domains, of which there are three: Bacteria, Archaea, and
Eukarya. Bacteria are all around us but are difficult to see without a microscope.
Archaea are unicellular organisms that are the only life able to survive in the most
extreme conditions. All the organisms in the Eukarya domain have a cellular nucleus in
common and are what we typically think of as "life".

The three domains are then broken down into kingdoms. There are six kingdoms that all
have distinct characteristics. The six kingdoms are Animals, Plants, Fungi, Protists,
Bacteria, and Archaea. Bacteria and Archaea are considered both domains and
kingdoms. The Eukarya domain contains the other kingdoms: Animals, Plants, Fungi,
and Protista.

These kingdoms are then split into phyla groups (singular: phylum). Phyla are then
divided further into classes. Classes are then broken down into smaller groups known as
orders. Orders are broken down into families. Within families, there are subgroups
known as genera (singular: genus). Finally, the genera are split into categories known as
species. The definition of species is a group of organisms that can reproduce and make
fertile offspring. Depending on certain groups (e.g. plants), secondary ranks such as
tribe, section, series, variety, and form are also used.
Here is an example of the classification table:

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Platyhelminthes
Class Acentrosomata
Order Cyclophyllidea
Genus Taenia
T. solium (Goeze, 1782)
Nomenclature

The format for writing scientific names of animals is standardized and internationally
accepted. “Scientific nomenclature” refers to various names according to a specific field
of study. Usually, animals are identified by common and scientific names. Taxonomists
have established several “codes” for scientific nomenclature. These codes are universal
and are periodically updated by consensus. The protocol for naming species was
invented in the 1700s by Carl von Linné (Carolus Linnaeus). He created the system of
“binomial nomenclature,” which uses only two designations–genus and specific epithet
as the species name. In the mid-1800s, scientists agreed on an expanded system of
nomenclature. To date, the following are different codes of nomenclature: (a)
International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, (b) International Code of
Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, (c) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
(ICZN) and (d) International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP).

The binomial name consists of a genus name and a specific epithet. The scientific
names of species are italicized. The genus name is always capitalized and is written
first; the specific epithet follows the genus name and is not capitalized. There is no
exception to this. You might also see a scientific name followed by an initial or
abbreviation. This would denote the person who discovered or named the species. For
example, in Taenia solium G., the G (not italicized) refers to the original name given by
the scientist, Goeze. In some instances, “spp.” is an abbreviation for “several species”
(“sp” is the designation for one species) in the genus. For example, Taenia spp.

In this activity, you will be given different representative specimens of plants and animals
where you are tasked to identify their taxonomic ranks from Kingdom until Order.
Moreover, you will be creating a classification table as well for all specimens.
SPECIMENS

Plant Materials / Specimens

Chlamydomonas spp Euglena spp. Volvox spp.

Pyrodinium spp. Penicillium spp. Polysiphonia spp.
Rhizopus spp. Agaricus spp. Cyclotella spp
Oedogonium spp. Chara spp. Fucus spp
Pleurotus spp. Peziza spp. Saccharomyces spp.
Laminaria spp. Vaucheria spp. Spirogyra spp.
Anthoceros spp. Psilotum spp. Mnium spp.
Marchantia spp. Cycas spp. Lycopodium spp.
Gingko spp. Gnetum spp. Pinus spp.
Rosa spp. Piper spp. –

Animal Materials / Specimens

Plasmodium spp. Enterobius spp. Acropora spp.

Hydra spp. Aurelia spp. Diadema spp
Lumbricus spp. Grantia spp. Euplectella spp.
Trichuris spp Achatina spp. Nereis spp.
Scylla spp. Fasciola spp. Perna spp.
Taenia spp. Periplaneta spp. Schistosoma spp
Rhipicephalus spp. Amoeba spp. Hirudo spp.
Loligo spp. Athyma spp Scolopendra spp
Ctenocephalides spp. Holothuria spp. Nephila spp.
Linckia spp. Trichinella spp. Anopheles spp.

PROCEDURE

Section A: Taxonomy

(a) Identify the taxonomic ranks of each specimen such as Kingdom, Phylum / Division,
Class, and Order. Please identify their common name as well. Please use the
following main references to get the classification of the different organisms.

Animal 1. Brusca, R.C., W. Moore & S.M. Shuster.2016. Invertebrates. 3rd

Edition.
2. Integrated Taxonomic Information System - https://www.itis.gov/
3. Catalogue of Life - https://www.catalogueoflife.org/

Plant 1. Simpson MG. 2019. Plant Systematics (3rd Ed.). Elsevier (Academic
Press).
2. Integrated Taxonomic Information System - https://www.itis.gov/
3. Catalogue of Life - https://www.catalogueoflife.org/
 There are some instances when you cannot find the Class or Order of a certain
specimen in the main references. You need to conduct additional research where you
use ‘other’ references. If this is the case, please indicate them with a superscript number
(e.g. OrderName1) and place it in the reference list of the laboratory exercise.

(b) After filling up the table, please create a classification table starting with Kingdom
Protista, Kingdom Fungi, Kingdom Plantae, and Kingdom Animalia. Use the correct
format prescribed.

Section B: Etymology of Plant and Animal Invertebrate Species

(a) Generic and scientific names of plant and animal species have their origin or
etymology. This can be descriptive based on their morphology. An example is
Helicobacter pylori. Helico- refers to the bacteria's spiral-shaped rod while pylori refer
to the entrance to the duodenum where the bacteria are located.

(b) In your laboratory exercise, choose 5 animal- (preferably invertebrate) & 5 plant-
species where you determine the origin of their name (etymology). It would be nice if
you have a photo of your chosen species. Please do not forget to cite your sources.

Section C: Body plan and architecture of Animal Invertebrates:

(a) Before we start studying animal diversity, specifically for invertebrates, let us
determine what characteristics are used in determining their relationship with one
another. The different groups of invertebrates are (1) Phylum Porifera, (2) Phylum
Cnidaria, (3) Phylum Platyhelminthes, (4) Phylum Nematoda, (5) Phylum Annelida,
(6) Phylum Arthropoda, (7) Phylum Echinodermata and (8) Phylum Chordata. Fill out
the table below using the legends found for C01 – C07. Please read pp. 135 – 138 of
the reference book (Brusca et al., 2016) to supplement this activity as well as other
sources.

Character Type of Character Choices

AC01 True Tissue Without Tissue
With Tissue

AC02 Type of Symmetry Asymmetrical

Radial
Bilateral

AC03 Number of Germ Layers No germ layers

2 germ layers
3 germ layers

AC04 Body Cavity No body cavity

With body cavity
 AC05 Type of Body Cavity No body cavity
Acoelomate
Pseudocoelomate
Coelomate

AC06 The fate of the Blastophore No fate

Protosome
Deuterostome

AC07 Unique Character/s Write the unique character for the specific
group or phyla

Section D: Body plan and architecture of plants & fungi

(b) Let us determine what plant and fungal characteristics are used in determining their
relationship with one another. Represented genera are the following: (1) Spirulina
spp., (2) Nostoc spp., (3) Euglena spp., (4) Pyrodinium spp., (5) Sargassum spp., (6)
Kappaphycus spp., (7) Chara spp., (8) Amanita spp., (9) Saccharomyces spp., (10)
Sphagnum spp., (11) Nephrolepis spp., (12) Sequioa spp., (13) Saccharum spp.,
and (14) Hibiscus spp. Fill out the table below using the legends found for C0_ –
C0_. Please the reference book (Simpson, 2019) to supplement this activity as well
as other sources.

Character Type of Character Choices

PC01 Type of cell Prokaryotic
Eukaryotic
PC02 Number of cells Unicellular
Multicellular
PC03 Number of rows of cells Uniseriate (composed of a single row of
cells)
Multiseriate (composed of several rows of
cells)
PC04 Presence of cell wall Present
Absent
PC05 Presence of cellulosic Present
plates Absent
PC06 Presence of cell wall with Present
alginic acid Absent
PC07 Presence of cell wall with Present
cellulose Absent
PC08 Presence of cell wall with Present
cellulose Absent
PC09 Presence of mucilaginous Present
sheath on their cells Absent
PC10 Seeds production Produce seeds
Do not produce seeds
PC11 Fruits and flower production Produce fruits/ flowers
 Do not produce fruits/flowers
PC12 Presence of secondary Present
tissues for wood production Absent
PC13 Presence of vascular Present
tissues (xylem, phloem) Absent
PC14 Habitat Terrestrial
Aquatic
PC15 Ascospores production produce ascospores
do not produce ascospores
PC16 Basidiospores production produce basidiospores
do not produce basidiospores
PC17 Presence of cell wall with Present
chitin Absent
PC18 Presence of green pigment Present
Absent
PC19 Presence of phycoerythrin Present
as one of the major Absent
pigments
PC20 Present of fucoxanthin as Present
one of the major pigments Absent
PC21 Presence of discoid Present
chloroplast Absent
PC22 Presence of phyllidia Present
Absent
PC23 Presence of fronds Present
Absent