Abstract
Taxonomy deals with the naming and classification of organisms and is an integrative part of biological systematics, the science of biodiversity. The information provided by taxonomic research is a fundamental basis for all fields of biology. Current taxonomy focuses on multicharacter integrative approaches, considering all potentially useful sources of information provided by the various fields of biology. The resulting supraspecific classification should be based on the genealogy of organisms, that is, on a phylogenetic analysis, to be objectively testable. However, for pragmatical reasons, a classification based on overall similarity and diagnostically relevant characters might be a heuristically important step in taxonomy and should be perceived as an approximation to a classification tested by phylogenetic methods. The nested levels in a classification of organisms are usually not only named but also ranked, that is, a set of hierarchical terms like genus, family, and class, are applied to reflect the hierarchical structure of the classification. Assigning these so-called Linnaean categories to a classification is (1) a voluntary action to make a classification notionally more easy to access; and (2) a linguistic activity that is done subsequent to obtaining the scientific results of the systematic analysis.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bauhin K (1623) Pinax theatri botanici. Basel
Blackwelder RE (1967) Taxonomy—a text and reference book. John Wiley & Sons, New York London Sydney
Blackwelder RE, Boyden AA (1952) The nature of systematics. Syst Zool 1: 26–33
Brown P, Sutikna T, Morwood MJ, Soejono RP, Jatmiko, Saptomo EW, Rukus Awe Due (2004) A new small-bodied hominin from the late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia. Nature 431: 1055–1061
Brusca RC, Brusca GJ (2003) Invertebrates, 2nd edn. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland Massachusetts
Cantino PD, de Queiroz K (2000) PhyloCode: A phylogenetic code of biological nomenclature (http://www.ohiou.edu/phylocode/)
Carpenter JM (2003) Critique of pure folly. Bot Rev 69: 79–92
Dayrat B (2005) Towards integrative taxonomy. Biol J Linn Soc 85: 407–415
De Salle R, Egan MG, Siddall M (2005) The unholy trinity: taxonomy, species delimitation and DNA barcoding. Philos Trans R Soc B 360: 1905–1916
Godfray HCJ (2002) Challenges for taxonomy. Nature 417: 17–19
Goodman M, Porter CA, Czelusniak J, Page SL, Schneider H, Shoshani J, Gunnell G, Groves CP (1998) Toward a phylogenetic classification of primates based on DNA evidence complemented by fossil evidence. Mol Phylogenet Evol 9: 585–598
Griffiths GCD (1974) On the foundations of biological systematics. Acta Biotheor 23: 85–131
Griffiths GCD (1976) The future of Linnaean nomenclature. Syst Zool 25: 168–173
Groves C (2001a) Why taxonomic stability is a bad idea, or why are there so few species of primates (or are there?). Evol Anthropol 10: 192–198
Groves C (2001b) Primate taxonomy. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC London
Hawksworth DL, Bisby FA (1988) Systematics: the keystone of biology. In: Hawksworth DL (ed) Prospects in systematics (The systematics association special volume no. 36). Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 3–30
Hennig W (1950) Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik. Deutscher Zentralverlag, Berlin
Hennig W (1966) Phylogenetic systematics. Translated by DD Davis and R Zangerl. University of Illinois Press, Urbana
Hennig W (1969) Die Stammesgeschichte der Insekten. Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main
Huxley J (ed) (1940a) The new systematics. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Huxley J (1940b) Towards the new systematics. In: Huxley J (ed) The new systematics. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp 1–46
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1999) International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 4th edn. The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London
Isaac NJB, Mallet J, Mace GM (2004) Taxonomic inflation: its influence on macroeceology and conservation. Tree 19: 464–469
Longino JT (1993) Scientific naming. Natl Geogr Res Explor 9: 80–85
Mägdefrau K (1992) Geschichte der Botanik, 2nd edn. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart Jena New York
Martin RD (2002) Primatology as an essential basis for biological anthropology. Evol Anthropol Suppl 1: 3–6
Mayr E (1995) Systems of ordering data. Biol Philos 10: 419–434
Mayr E, Ashlock PD (1991) Principles of systematic zoology, 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill Inc., New York etc
Mayr E, Bock WJ (2002) Classifications and other ordering systems. J Zool Syst Evol Res 40: 169–194
Minelli A (2004) Fossils, genes and adaptation. TREE 20: 14–15 (a review of Valentine, 2004)
Murphy WJ, Eizirik E, Johnson WE, Zhang YP, Ryder OA, O'Brien SJ (2001) Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of placental mammals. Nature 409: 614–618
Nixon KC, Carpenter JM (2000) On the other “phylogenetic systematics.” Cladistics 16: 298–318
Nixon KC, Carpenter JM (2003) The PhyloCode is fatally flawed, and the “Linnaean” system can easily be fixed. Bot Rev 69: 111–120
Patterson C, Rosen DE (1977) Review of ichthyodectiform and other mesozoic teleost fishes and the theory and practice of classifying fossils. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 158: 81–172
Pleijel F, Rouse GW (2003) Ceci n'est pas une pipe: names, clades and phylogenetic nomenclature. J Zool Syst Evol Res 41: 162–174
Purvis A, Hector A (2000) Getting the measure of biodiversity. Nature 405: 212–219
Rasnitsyn AP (2002) Order Hymenoptera Linné, 1758. In: Rasnitsyn AP, Quicke DLJ (eds) History of insects. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht Boston London, pp 242–254
Richter S, Sudhaus W (2004) Vorspann zu den Kontroversen in der phylogenetischen Systematik der Metazoa. Sber Ges Naturf Freunde Berlin (NF) 43: 5–13
Schuh RT (2000) Biological systematics: principles and applications. Cornell University Press, Ithaca London
Schuh RT (2003) The Linnaean system and its 250-year-persistence. Bot Rev 69: 59–78
Simpson GG (1961) Principles of animal taxonomy. Columbia University Press, New York
Spamer EE (1999) Know thyself: responsible science and the lectotype of Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758. Proc Acad Natl Sci Philos 149: 109–114
Stork NE, Samways MJ (1995) Inventorying and monitoring. In: Heywood VH (ed) Global biodiversity assessment. United Nations environment programme. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 453–543
Sudhaus W, Rehfeld K (1992) Einführung in die Phylogenetik und Systematik. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart Jena New York
Tavaré S, Marshall CR, Will O, Soligo C, Martin RD (2002) Using the fossil record to estimate the age of the last common ancestor of extant primates. Nature 416: 726–729
Valentine JW (2004) On the origin of phyla. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Vane- Wright RI (2001) Methods of taxonomy. In: Levin SA (ed) Encyclopedia of biodiversity, vol 5. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 589–606
Wägele J-W (2005) Foundations of Phylogenetic systematics. Verlag F Pfeil, München [English translation of Gundlagen des Phylogenetischen Systematik. Verlag F Pfeil, München 2nd, revised edition 2001]
Wakeham- Dawson A, Morris S, Tubbs P (2002) Type specimens: dead or alive? Bull Zool Nomenclat 59: 282–284
Wheeler QD (2005) Losing the plot: DNA “barcodes” and taxonomy. Cladistics 21: 405–407
Wheeler QD, Raven PH, Wilson EO (2004) Taxonomy: impediment or expedient? Science 303: 285
Will KW, Rubinoff D (2004) Myth of the molecule: DNA barcodes for species cannot replace morphology for identification and classification. Cladistics 20: 47–55
Wilson EO (2003) The encyclopedia of life. TREE 18: 77–80
Winston JE (1999) Describing species—practical taxonomic procedure for biologists. Columbia University Press, New York
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ohl, M. (2007). 4 Principles of Taxonomy and Classification: Current Procedures for Naming and Classifying Organisms. In: Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-33761-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-33761-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-32474-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-33761-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences