Biology Stack Exchange
Biology Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [classification]

Pertaining to the classification of organisms.

75 questions
43
votes
6 answers

Do humans have enough biological differences to be grouped into races or subspecies?

After my online research on the subject, I learnt that, biologically speaking, many scientists believe that there is no such thing as a race. Homo sapiens as a species is only 200,000 years old, which has not allowed for any significant genetic…
Th334
  • 949
  • 1
  • 6
  • 17
20
votes
3 answers

Can 'human' become a genus due to space colonization?

I have read that during the Second World War, some mosquitoes got trapped in the London underground railway system. The mosquitoes never got out and eventually they became a new species by themselves. I had a similar thought. In the next few…
PNS
  • 311
  • 2
  • 7
8
votes
2 answers

Can someone tell me the species of this lizard?

It's a green lizard with a silver tail, and it has pretty, bluish eyes. I saw it today, July 26th, trying to get some shade on a hot, sunny day (32 degrees) at around 18:00 in Austin, TX USA. It's been hot and dry here the past few weeks, but it…
Benji A.
  • 83
  • 5
7
votes
1 answer

Classifying Polypeptides (and/or Proteins)

Since polypeptides are a linear chain of twenty amino acids, each having a single letter abbreviation (e.g. Alanine = A). So can a polypeptide be represented as just the sequence (say: ADN for an Alanine, Aspartic acid, Asparagine polypeptide)?…
Alex P
  • 864
  • 5
  • 15
7
votes
2 answers

How are DNA virus cladograms actually calculated in practice? Is the procedure different for RNA viruses? Are these processes somewhat subjective?

The May 24, 2022 Bloomberg opinion piece Monkeypox Isn’t Looking Like a Covid-Sized Threat; It’s still early, but contact-tracing efforts and analysis of the virus’s genome offer hope that this outbreak can be contained. includes the following: Why…
uhoh
  • 5,011
  • 2
  • 24
  • 70
6
votes
1 answer

What does it mean to have square brackets around a genus name?

For example [Eubacterium] rectale
Nick Chadsbury
  • 63
  • 3
6
votes
1 answer

Is Asteraceae and Compositae the same family?

I'm wondering what taxonomic family sunflowers (Helianthus) belong to. Although it's mentioned it belongs to family Asteraceae it is also a composite flower. So it belongs to Asteraceae or Compositae or both? And do they refer to the same family or…
rishab bairagi
  • 1,547
  • 5
  • 14
  • 22
6
votes
3 answers

What is a group of tortoises called?

This post at Mental Floss stated that a group of tortoises is called a 'Creep'. I had never heard of that before, and in trying to find the references for the name, I was surprised that I couldn't actually find anything. Wikipedia showed no results…
GimmeTehRepz
  • 179
  • 1
  • 1
  • 5
6
votes
3 answers

What is a good source that will help me classify protists?

I am a 15 year old that enjoys looking at the micro world. The only issue that I have is that I can't find a good online source that will help me classify the name of the micro organism that I'm looking at. Does anyone know a place that will help me…
HeyItsProdigy
  • 61
  • 2
5
votes
0 answers

What spider is that in south of Brazil?

I'd like to know if it is possible to identify the spider in the photo below. In fact, as shown in the next picture, it is very small. Location: South of Brazil.
Pedro
  • 173
  • 5
5
votes
1 answer

Chlamydomanas are present in Kingdom Protista or Plantae?

Chlamydomonas, Chlorella are present in Kingdom Protista as well as Plantae under division algae. In which kingdom they correctly belong to?
San
  • 521
  • 5
  • 16
5
votes
4 answers

What is Biradial Symmetry?

I am trying to visualize biradial symmetry. I have read the section in the Wiki entry on Symmetry in Biology but it is quite brief and there is no example to illustrate it. I haven’t been able to find one anywhere else on the internet.
user30430
5
votes
2 answers

Binomial nomenclature: Why am I seeing different genera with the same species name?

I have looked online but still do not understand how two organisms can have the the same species names but be in different genera? Do all genera share common species names? Also which would be more closely related, two organisms with the same genus…
city7lights
  • 468
  • 2
  • 9
  • 18
5
votes
1 answer

Can anyone ID this ant queen species?

It was found in Hong Kong! Below are a few basic information: Place: Hong Kong Habitat: Forest. I live very close to a mountain with lots of forestation. Where Collected: Found it in my window slit of my apartment. Coloration: Major body parts are…
daniel lee
  • 51
  • 1
4
votes
1 answer

How to convert a genus name to a noun or adjective

Consider the crayfish family Cambaridae. As I understand it, this familial name can be turned into an English noun or adjective by changing the first letter to lower case and dropping the "ae." An example use is "Responses of cambarid crayfish to…
crayman9
  • 41
  • 2
1
2 3 4 5