Classification of Living Organisms — Five Kingdoms, the Taxonomic Ladder and Binomial Nomenclature

There are millions of kinds of living things, and no examination can ask you to remember them one by one. What it can ask is whether you know the filing system.

Classification is that filing system. It sorts every organism by a small set of questions about its cell and its way of living, and it gives every species a two-word name that means the same thing in every language on earth. Once you know the questions, an unfamiliar organism is still placeable, because you are not recalling it — you are testing it.

The topic has three parts and they are asked in roughly equal measure. First, the five kingdoms and the criteria that separate them. Second, the ladder of ranks from kingdom down to species. Third, the rules of scientific naming, which are pure convention and therefore free marks.

None of it requires a laboratory. All of it requires knowing which question comes first.

1. The five-kingdom system of classification was proposed by:

2. In binomial nomenclature, the first word of a scientific name denotes the:

3. Which kingdom consists entirely of prokaryotic organisms?

4. The cell wall of fungi is chiefly made of:

5. Which is the correct sequence of taxonomic categories from the largest to the smallest?

6. The largest phylum in the animal kingdom is:

7. Bryophytes are called the amphibians of the plant kingdom because:

8. The scientific name of the mango is Mangifera indica. In this name, 'indica' denotes the: