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Lab 06: Classification and Dichotomous Keys

Once again, there is an unbelievable amount of diversity of life on Earth. From the smallest single-
celled bacterium to the worlds largest creatures: blue whales, redwoods, and a fungus that spans many
acres. How can we keep track of all of it?



Organizing the Diversity of Life: Taxonomy
Scientists like to divide things into categories. They put things into boxes and give those
boxes names. Despite the diversity, they are quite good at it. Taxonomy is the field of
biology that seeks to classify this diversity. The father of modern biological taxonomy
was Carl Linnaeus who published his Systema Naturae describing his taxonomic system
in 1735. Although Linnaeus' system has been modified over the years, the modern
taxonomic system maintains a number of its features, including the following:

Division of organisms into named hierarchical groups, known as taxa (singular:
taxon). Examples include (in order of increasing specificity):
o Kingdom (plural: kingdoms)
! Phylum (also known as "division" in plants) (plural: phyla)
Class (plural: classes)
o Order (plural: orders)
! Family (plural: families)
Genus (plural: genera)
o species (plural: species)

Each taxon delineation is based on a set of particular morphological,
biochemical, or genetic characteristics, known as characters, that are
shared by members of the group. Linnaeus' system was innovative
because in many cases it focused on reproductive characteristics rather
than the overall form and habits. (This emphasis caused some of his
contemporaries to consider him a pervert, but it was probably more
accurate given the BSC.) Thus Linnaeus ultimately correctly classified
whales as mammals rather than fish.


Identification of a particular type of organism by a TWO-PART scientific name (= binomial
nomenclature).
o Never write the species name without the genus name in front of it. This means that
each type of organism gets called by its generic AND specific name:
GENUS + SPECIES.
o It is always italicized (or underlined if hand-written).
Twelve species in the genus Drosophila
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o It is Latinized, which avoids bias towards one particular country, since no country
speaks Latin.
o The Genus is Capitalized (as are all higher levels), while species is never capitalized.
o On first mention, the genus name is written in full (e.g. Escherichia coli) and on
subsequent references within a work it is usually abbreviated using the first letter
(e.g. E. coli).

In total:


Binomial nomenclature is important because it is the same throughout time and space.
Common names, like dragonfly in English, which is libellule in French or in Chinese or
mosquito hawk in Bubbabonics, vary wildly from place to place, but as long as you know the
scientific nomenclature, you can talk about it with any scientist the world over (assuming you
understand the other words they are saying).

Naming species
Most of the higher levels of taxonomy are set; it is rare that a new family or even genus is discovered.
Sometimes the highest levels are reworked as new genetic data are introduced, but this comes with a
storm of discussion. Quite often however, new species are discovered. In this case, the person who
discovered it gets to name it. This does not mean that anything goes. There are many rules he/she must
follow. Usually the name reflects some attribute of the specimen or its location. For instance,
mockingbirds are in the family Mimidae, which means mimic, because they mimic the calls of other
birds. The American black bear is Ursus americanus which is Latin for American bear. Some of the
codes stipulate that a scientist cannot name a species after him or herself, however if you have a friend
that also just found a new species, there can be some back scratching.

If you like long lists of rules here are some of the International Codes of Nomenclature:
Bacteria: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=icnb&part=A185
Plants: http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/nomenclature/code/SaintLouis/0001ICSLContents.htm
Animals: http://www.iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp

A note on taxonomic divisions. The levels of hierarchy are not necessarily created equally. For
instance one family, like Hominidae, only contains 1 species: humans. However another family, like
Curculionidae, the weevils, can contain 60,000 species and may show more genetic and phenotypic
diversity than some classes.

Sometimes the credentials for putting something into a given category work all the time, sometimes
they dont. For example, Pluto used to be a planet. Now that more objects in space have been found, if
Pluto qualifies as a planet, then many other space-objects must be considered planets too. Taxonomic
subdivisions work something like that. One definition of a species works for some taxa, but not others.
What separates two genera (plural for genus) of leafhoppers is not necessarily what separates two
genera of deer. This can be even more confusing when you consider that evolution can change
phenotypes gradually and in a continuum, so what works now might not work in the future or for their
ancestors.

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An example of the characters used to define taxonomy
Lets follow the taxonomy of the Grizzly Bear and explore the characters used to define each of its
taxonomic levels.

The Grizzly Bear was given the species epithet Ursus arctos, which in Latin and Greek mean
bear respectively, in 1815 by George Ord (ironically, an ornithologist) after specimens were
sent to him for scientific description by the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is not specific to
grizzlies, which are distinguished as a subspecies called U. arctos horribilis, because Ord
misunderstood the description grizzly which refers to the bears rough gray hairs for something
more sinister.

Ursus is the genus that includes mostly northern hemispheric bears such as polar bears, black
bears, and other brown bears.

Ursidae is a family that includes all 8 living bear species, including pandas. Bears are
distinguished as being large dog-like mammals with a typically carnivorous dentition (although
all but the polar bear and panda are omnivorous). They have stocky legs, a long snout, shaggy
hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and a short tail.

The order Carnivora contains historically carnivorous mammals and includes dogs, cats,
raccoons, seals, and the weasel family. As such they have a carnivores skull that contains large
canines, forward-facing eyes (giving them binocular vision) and strong jaw muscle attachments.
They also have clawed toes.

Mammals are vertebrate animals that have fur, a four-chambered heart, feed their young with
milk, have three middle ear bones, a diaphragm, and heterodont dentition.

Chordates are animals with a notochord, dorsal nerve cord, endostyle, phanryngeal pouches and
arches, and a post-anal tail (at least as embryos).

The kingdom Animalia is distinguished as undergoing a blastula stage during development, and
typically being multicellular, mobile, and cute.
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Merging taxonomy and phylogeny: The shape of the Tree of Life
Linnaean taxonomy was not originally intended to show evolutionary relationships. However, this view
of taxonomy has changed dramatically with increased knowledge of evolutionary patterns. All life on
earth is now thought to be related (i.e., descended from a common ancestor) and much evidence, such
as carbon-based molecules, cells, and DNA, support this hypothesis. In the almost unimaginable span
of time since the first organisms arose (about 3.5 billion years) life has gradually diversified into the
myriad forms we see today. Darwin believed that evolutionary patterns could be described by a "tree of
life" that showed how descendants of a common ancestor diverged to form separate taxonomic groups
over time. However, Linnaean taxonomy is still used for most groups and so we will be exploring it
today.

Linnaeus divided all life into two kingdoms: plants and animals. When microorganisms were
discovered in the 19
th
century, a third taxon was created by Ernst Haeckel to include them: the kingdom
Protista. As more was learned about the biochemistry and microscopic structure of cells, it became
clear that certain groups of microorganisms should be grouped separately or placed in the plant and
animal kingdoms. Single-celled organisms that lacked nuclei (prokaryotes) were spun off into the
kingdom Monera and the other microorganisms were left in Protista. Fungi, which didn't fit in as either
plants or animals were put into their own kingdom. This "five kingdom" system prevailed for decades.

When the creation of molecular phylogenies became possible in the 1990's, systematists sought to
reorganize taxa into groups that better reflected the phylogenetic patterns they inferred from their data.
Below is phylogeny of all life on Earth as far as we know. It also includes the characters that define
and distinguish each group and where they might have evolved.


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The branching pattern (the bush of three main branches) near the "root" of
the tree above was determined by Woese et al. (1990) and based on
molecular data. They showed that several groups of unusual prokaryotes
that had previously been considered bacteria were actually more closely
related to eukaryotes than bacteria. Based on this pattern, they proposed
dividing all life into three groups at a taxonomic level higher than kingdom
which is now called domain (or superkingdom). The organization of the
domains Archaea and Eubacteria at the kingdom levels is somewhat unclear
- they are not usually divided into kingdoms, although taxa within the
domains are organized into definite phyla. This part of the tree is still
unresolved. In fact a very intriguing paper by Rivera and Lake (2004)
hypothesizes that Eukaryotes evolved out of a hybridization of Archaea
and Eubacteria in what they termed the ring of life. See the pic on the
right.

At any rate, the organization of the domain Eukaryota is more clear-cut. Eukaryotes are divided into
the traditional Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia (or Metazoa) kingdoms as well as two or more kingdoms of
what have traditionally been called protists (the Kingdom Protista is no longer accepted as a
monophyletic group). Each of those kingdoms is then subdivided into phyla and lower taxonomic
groups as in the traditional Linnaean system.

Comparison of taxonomic ranks
Taxonomic rank Human Gorilla Longleaf Pine Anthrax
Domain Eukaryota Eukaryota Eukaryota Eubacteria
Kingdom Animalia Animalia Plantae Bacteria
Phylum Chordata Chordata Coniferophyta Firmicutes
Class Mammalia Mammalia Pinopsida Bacilli
Order Primates Primates Pinales Bacillales
Family Hominidae Hominidae Pinaceae Bacillacae
Genus Homo Gorilla Pinus Bacillus
Species H. sapiens G. gorilla P. palustris B. anthracis

You can see that those organisms that are more closely related, such as humans and gorillas, share more
ranks in common. In other words, they fit into more of the same boxes. Many of these groups are
divided even further into subgroups, for example: subphylum, superfamily, subspecies, tribe, but we
will mostly stick with the basics.


How To Tell A Klotz From A Glotz
Well, the Glotz, you will notice,
has lots of black spots.
The Klotz is quite different
with lots of black dots.
But the big problem is
that the spots on a Glotz
are about the same size
as the dots on a Klotz.
So you first have to spot
who the one with the dots is.
Then its easy to tell
who the Klotz or the Glotz is.
Dr. Suess. 1979. Oh Say Can You Say?

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Dichotomous keys
When identifying taxa, taxonomists look very closely at many traits and their different forms, or
characters. Once identified and distinguished, they create a key to these characters so that other
scientists can separate the groups later. Often these keys contain steps to follow that lead you to ever
finer categorization. If only 2 steps are provided at a time, sort of an if-then this/if
not-then that, rule it is called a dichotomous key. This is very much like a flow
chart or the old Choose Your Own Adventure books.

Here is a very basic example. Say we found this creature:
and had no idea what it was. We could use a dichotomous key to find out.













Usually though, dichotomous keys are written out in long hand, using many long-winded and inane
names for characters, as in my description of bears above. During this lab, you will use and create keys
to distinguish organisms of various sorts.

If you notice, dichotomous keys share a lot in common with phylogenies. Basically, species are
organized by their shared and unshared characters. In a key, we group species according to features
they share. In a phylogeny, we think they are related because they share features.

Each description has two choices, called couplets. For example,

1 Description 1.2
1 Description 2.3

One of the pair is the number (1) and the other is the number prime (1). To use the key, begin by
deciding which description in the first couplet is most appropriate for the specimen you are identifying.
Be sure to examine all of the traits mentioned in the couplet. When you have decided which description
is a better match, go to the next numbered couplet as indicated at the end of the description.

Continue going to subsequent couplets until the description ends with the name of an insect order. If
you get lost or get to a name that doesnt seem to make sense, go back and start again. Each couplet
past 1 tells you which couplet led you to this one. For example, 1 says to go to 2. If you go to 2, it
says 2 (1), meaning you got there from 1. Use these to retrace your steps.

Use the key below, and a dissecting microscope if necessary, to identify the insect specimens to their
various orders.

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A dichotomous key to selected insect orders.




1 Mouthparts consist of two mandibles adapted for chewing (they
are pincer-like) (Fig. 1A) .............................................................................................................................. 2
1 Mouthparts are adapted for sucking (they are sharp/pointy, coiled
into a tube, or spongelike) (Fig. 1B-D) ....................................................................................................... 6

2 (1) Four venous wings are very obvious and held out to sides of body.
Eyes large, longer than antennae, and touching each other
on the top of the head. Skinny abdomen nearly the same length as wings. ........................... Odonata
2 Abdomen usually shorter than wings. Antennae are longer than eyes .............................................. 3

3 (2) Hindlegs adapted for jumping, with thick femora and two rows of
spines running the length of the tibia (Fig. 2) ......................................................................... Orthoptera
3 All legs similar in shape. No spines or spines not running length of leg. ........................................... 4

4 (3) Thick waist with no distinction between thorax and abdomen
when viewed from above (Fig. 3A). Wings folded and/or covering
abdomen closely ........................................................................................................................................... 5
4 Waist pinches in the middle when viewed from above and side (Fig. 3B).
Wings from opposites sides are not touching and not contoured to
the body. Abdomen oval shaped with point at posterior ................................................ Hymenoptera

5 (4) Flat wings with visible veins crossed over each other on abdomen,
usually brown. Long skinny antennae. One pair of cerci on posterior
of abdomen (Fig.4) ......................................................................................................................... Blattodea
5 Front wings hard and opaque, look like a shell (they dont look like
wings). These hard wings form a single straight line down the center
of the back (Fig.5) ....................................................................................................................... Coleoptera

6 (1) Wings transparent. Antennae are relatively short. ................................................................................. 7
6 Wings opaque. Antennae may be long or short ....................................................................................... 8

7 (6) Mouthparts are blunt (adapted for sponging up liquid) (Fig. 1D).
Body is hairy. ..................................................................................................................................... Diptera
7 Mouthparts are sharp and point posteriorly (Fig. 1B). Body is
Smooth (not hairy). .............................................................................................. Hemiptera (Homoptera)

8 (6) Mouthparts are coiled into long tube (Fig. 1C). Wings are stretched
to sides and covered in scales. Typically with hairy thorax ............................................... Lepidoptera
8 Mouthparts are sharp. Wings are crossed over abdomen, partially
venous (posterior) and partially leathery (anterior) .................................... Hemiptera (Heteroptera)

DO NOT TOUCH THE
INSECTS! THEY ARE
VERY FRAGILE!!!!
Hold the pin instead.

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Figure 1. A
B C D

Figure 2.

Figure 3. A B

Figure 4.
Figure 5.



Femur
Tibia
To view the side or underside
of insects without touching
them, use a Styrofoam block:

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BIOL 1108 Lab 06 Classification Postlab Name ___________________________________

1. Do some research and provide one fact that you find interesting about Carolus Linnaeus. Be honest.
Use good sources; cite them.






2. Using the dichotomous key, correctly identify your INSECT specimens to order. Also, look up the
common name of this insects order. Check with your instructor before moving on.

Group #

Unknown
Insect Insect order Common name
A

B

C

D

E


3. Use the characters and the pattern from the dichotomous key, to draw a phylogeny depicting the
evolutionary relationships of these insects. Remember that a good phylogeny is bifurcating
(meaning that each node splits into exactly two branches) just like the dichotomous key has two
choices each time. Add the characters to the tree as you think they evolved.












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4. Create a dichotomous key to 5 MOLLUSK
specimens from your bag so that someone else
can distinguish them. Be specific about the
characters you use. Use the terminology in the
figure. Remember: these are just representative
individuals of a presumably much more varied
species, so slight differences in color and size are
probably not the best characters to use.




























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5. Draw a phylogeny to depict those relationships. Add characters to the tree to indicate how you
think they evolved.
























6. Ask someone else to key out your specimens using your key. Have them describe here how well
your key worked and how easy it is to use.




















Have them print and sign here: