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Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species |
In the Linnean system (and
taxonomic systems based on it), the Order is a taxonomic category between
Class
and Family. An order is group of organisms,
e.g. Lepidoptera, Squamata,
Primates, etc that although differing quite a bit among themslves still
have a large degree of characteristics in common (e.g. all Lepidoptera
(butterflies and moths) have minute scales on their wings, a soft-bodied
herbivorous larval form (caterpllar), mouthparts in the adult specialised
for feeding on nectar, etc). As with all the groupings whether a
group of organisms ranks as an order or not is a subjective decision, although
usually based on the traditional status of that group in earlier literature.
There is also a tendency towards taxonomic inflation, especially among
tetrapods but also certain groups of invertebrates, with sub- or infra-orders
(and even families) being promoted to ordinal
status. Also, invertebrate orders tend to differ among themselves
much more than vertebrate orders (e.g. an invertebrate order e.g. Coleoptera
(beetles) might correspond in diversity to a suborder or cohort or infraclass
of Vertebrates). Cladism
tries to solve this arbitrariness by doing away with the Linnean system
altogether. |
Superorder
Grandorder
Order
Suborder
Infraorder
Parvorder
Page History
page uploaded 27 May 1999