Practice identifying, ordering, and using taxonomic classification ranks from the broadest group to the most specific group.
Read each problem carefully. Use the taxonomic ranks domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Show your thinking in the space provided.
Practice ordering the levels scientists use to classify living things
Biology - Grade 6-8
- 1
Write the eight main taxonomic ranks in order from broadest to narrowest.
- 2
Which taxonomic rank is broader: family or order? Explain your answer.
- 3
Place these ranks in order from broadest to narrowest: class, species, kingdom, genus, phylum.
- 4
A red fox has the scientific name Vulpes vulpes. Which part of the name is the genus, and which part helps identify the species?
- 5
Complete the missing ranks in this sequence: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, _____, genus, species.
- 6
Two organisms are in the same genus but different species. Are they more closely related than two organisms in the same family but different genera? Explain.
- 7
Look at this classification for a domestic cat: Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae, Felis, catus. Add the missing broadest rank at the beginning and label each rank.
- 8
Which rank is the most specific: class, family, species, or kingdom? Explain your answer.
- 9
A student wrote this order: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain. Is the student ordering ranks from broadest to narrowest or narrowest to broadest? Explain.
- 10
Fill in the comparison sentence: A kingdom is broader than a _____, and a genus is broader than a _____. Choose from species, phylum, domain, class.
- 11
The gray wolf is classified as Eukarya, Animalia, Chordata, Mammalia, Carnivora, Canidae, Canis, lupus. Which rank is Canidae, and which rank is Canis?
- 12
Create a classification ladder with these ranks in the correct order: order, domain, species, class, family, kingdom, genus, phylum. Then mark the broadest and narrowest ranks.