Ask a Teacher

Taxonomy is a hierarchical system for classifying and identifying organisms. This system was developed by Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus in the 18th century.

Linnaeus's taxonomy system has two main features that contribute to its ease of use in naming and grouping organisms. The first is the use of binomial nomenclature and the second is the ordering of species into broad categories. 

Binomial nomenclature is the system used to identify all organisms on Earth, from elephants to algae. A binomial or scientific name identifies an organism by its genus and species, ensuring that everyone understands which organism is under discussion. Binomial nomenclature fits within the larger framework of taxonomy, the science of categorizing living organisms and assigning traits to them to understand the links and differences between them. The scientific name of an organism could be considered its definitive name, with scientific names being understood by scientists all over the world. Binomial nomenclature involves organizing an organism's scientific name into a combination of two terms. These terms are the genus name and the species. Both of these terms are italicized and the genus name is also capitalized.

For example, the scientific name for humans is Homo sapiens. The genus name is Homo and the species is sapiens.