Taxonomy Flashcards
What are the 6 kingdoms?
Archaebacteria Eubacteria Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia
What are the taxonomic levels?
Domains Kingdoms Phylum Class Order Family Genus
What are the three domains?
Archae
Eubacteria
Eukarya
What is a pleisomorphic characteristic?
Shared ancestral characteristics from a distant common ancestor
What is a synapamorphic characteristic?
Shared derived characteristic from a recent common ancestor.
What is a homology?
A structure derived from a recent common ancestor
What is a homoplasy?
A superficially homologous characteristic, which is actually independently acquired. E.g the body form in sharks and dolphins
What is a monophyletic taxon?
All organisms in the group are all descended from the same common ancestor
What is a para phyletic taxon?
Common ancestor but not all descendants are included in the group.
What is a poly phyletic group?
They do not share common ancestors but do share homoplastic features
What is a phylum?
It is the largest generally accepted group of animals
What is the Cambrian explosion?
A period of time that occurred over 500 mya that all major animal groups at phylum level seem to have originated
