Basic Taxonomy

Abstract

This chapter is intended to introduce students and less advanced professionals to basic taxonomic procedure and the most important terms used in taxonomy literature. The identification keys and papers describing species are listed in the next chapter. Taxonomy is a fundamental discipline of biology, whereas systematics provides the framework on which the rest of biology is based (Wilson 2004; Prothero 2007). Here, we follow Winston (1999) the use, meaning, and difference between the terms taxonomy and systematics. The generally accepted definition of systematics is the study of biological diversity and of the evolutionary relationship among organisms, while taxonomy is just a subdivision of systematics (Simpson 1961; Mayr 1969; Wilson 1985; Prothero 2007). This definition consists of three activities: identification (referring to the type specimen), classification (ordering organisms into groups), and nomenclature (naming organisms and groups) (Winston 1999). Systematics includes taxonomic classification, evolutionary relationships (phylogeny), and geographic relationships (biogeography) (Prothero 2007). Taxonomic procedure is the practical process of identification and description or redescription of a species or higher taxa in scientific publication according to the rules of biological nomenclature. In the case of Cladocera and Copepoda, taxonomic rules are part of zoological nomenclature (Nomenclature 1999). The first code was established in 1889 in Paris, during the first International Congress of Zoology, and then adopted in 1901 in Berlin, authorized in 1904 in Bern, published in 1905, amended many times later, and finally in 1973 taken over by the International Union of Biological Sciences (Winston 1999).