1. Objectives 18.1 Finding Order in Diversity
What is binomial nomenclature?
Who came up with this method of organization?
Determine the purpose of binomial nomenclature.
Find out how binomial nomenclature is used by the scientific community.

2. Why Even Use Scientific Names?
By using a scientific name, biologists can be sure that they are discussing the same organism.
Common names can be confusing because they vary among languages and from place to place.
For example, the names cougar, puma, panther and mountain lion are all used to indicate the same animal— Felis Concolor.

3. Why Latin?
In the eighteenth century, European scientists agreed to assign Latin names to each species.
Latin was a perfect choice as it was now a “dead” language, which means that it is no longer spoken, and so terminology would not change.

4. Binomial Nomenclature
Carolus Linnaeus developed a two-word naming system called binomial nomenclature.
1. The scientific name usually is Latin.
2. It is written in italics or underlined.
3. The first word begins with a capital letter.
4. The second word is lowercase.
For example, the polar bear is called Ursus maritimus.

5. Classifying Species into Larger Groups
In addition to naming organisms, biologists tried to organize, or classify, living and fossil species into larger groups that have biological meaning.
The science of naming and grouping organisms is called systematics.

6. Linnaean Classification System
Linnaeus also developed a classification system that organized species into a hierarchy, or ranking.
In deciding how to place organisms into larger groups, Linnaeus grouped species according to anatomical similarities and differences.

7. Seven Levels of Classification
Over time, Linnaeus’s original classification system would expand to include 8 taxa (or group levels): Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species.
Dear King Philip Come Over For Great Spaghetti.

8. Largest Group and Most Specific…
The largest and most inclusive of Linnaeus’s taxonomic categories is the domain, followed by kingdom.
The smallest and most specific group into which an organism is assigned is its species.