Principles of Systematics

Topic : Phenon and Category

Submitted To:Ma’am Hira Muqaddas
Submitted By: Rabia Nasir
Roll No: B-Zol-17-4
BS-Zoology(7th Semester)
 Phenon and Category:

A phenon is a group of Organisms which is recognized simply

on the basis of similarity of characteristics , regardless of
any biological interaction or genetic relatedness ;(in later
use) specifically a grouping of organisms established by
phenetics or numercial taxonomy.

In other words we can say that ;

Phenon is a convenient term for the different forms or

phenotypes that may occur within a simple population,
composed of intrapopulation variants.
 It includes many of the Varieties (older literature), the sexes
(where there is sexual dimorphism), age stages ,seasonal
varieties and morphs ( individual variants).

The term phenon was introduced by Camp & Gily in 1943 to

describe phenotypically homogeneous samples at the species
level , later used in different senses by Sneath &
Snokal(1973).

The organisms in a phenon may or may not belongs to same

taxon.
 Category:

Categories are the diverse level recognized in the linean

hierarchy such as specie ,genus ,family etc which are used in
biological classification.

A category designates rank or level in a hierarchic

classification .
It is a class whose members are all the taxa that are
assigned a given rank .

A category is thus an abstract term, a class name while the

taxa placed in categories are concrete objects.
Category is also named as Taxonomic rank.

In biological classification ,taxonomic rank is relative group of

organisms in a taxonomic hierarchy .

Taxonomic ranks are kingdom ,phylum ,class ,order ,family

,genus and species.
There are 7 levels or rank in biological classification.But some
scientists include Domain in this classification. But preferred
levels are total 7.

Each rank of classification is classified within more general

categories of organisms and groups of organisms related to
each other through inheritance of traits or features from their
common ancestors.
 Description Of Taxonomic Rank:

• Kingdom:
kingdom is the highest category in biological classification.It
is a group of closely related organisms.

Example all plants have common features of autotrophic mode

of nutrition and presence of cell wall made of cellulose.Hence
they belong to kingdom plantae.

Scientists also developed subcategories in this higher key for

more sound and scientific replacement of various taxa.
 Phylum:

A phylum is a group of related animal classes.Birds along

with mammals are members of the same phylum .
Chordata because of the same features of the presence of
notochord and dorsal hollow nerve cord.

In-plant classes with a few similar characters are arranged in a

higher category of division.
 Class:

The class is a group of related organisms.

For example;
Primates comprising monkeys gorillas
and gibbons are placed in class Mammalia along with order
Carnivora;

which includes animals like tiger ,cat and dogs and having a
common feature that is hair on skin and milk glands.
 Order:

An order is a group of related families that exhibit a few similar

characteristics .
For example;
Plant families like convolcacaea , solanaceae are included in
the same order Polynomials.

In animals, Felidae and Canidae are included in the same order

Carnivora.
 Family:

A family is a group of related genus.They have still less number

of similarities as compared to genus and species.Families are
characterized on the basis of both vegetative and reproductive
features of plant species.

Example; three different genus Solanum , petunia ,and Torah

are placed in the same family Solanaceae.
 Genus:

Genus is a group of species which are alike in their broad

features or organizations but different in detail.

Species in a genus have common ancestory.This may be the

reason for their close similarities
For example: Genus of human is Homo.
 Species:

Species is a group of actually potentially and inbreeding

population ,reproductively isolated from other such groups.It
is the lowest taxonomic characteristics.It consists of
individuals which have fundamental similarities and can be
distinguished from other closely related species due to
morphological characters.
For Example ,Grey wolf has specie level as Canis lupus.