Taxonomy Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. While using a dichotomous key, you choose the statement that matches a leaf's smooth edge. What should you do next?
Compare the leaf with every species in the key at once
Follow the direction attached to that choice to the next pair or identification
Restart and choose the opposite statement to confirm the result
Assign a scientific name based only on that single feature
2. Which sequence lists the major taxonomic ranks from broadest to most specific?
Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
Kingdom, domain, phylum, order, class, family, species, genus
Domain, phylum, kingdom, class, family, order, genus, species
Kingdom, phylum, class, family, order, genus, domain, species
3. Why are scientific names generally more reliable than common names for communication about species?
Scientific names describe every visible feature of an organism
Common names can be used only for domesticated organisms
Common names can vary by region or refer to different organisms, while scientific names follow standardized conventions
Scientific names never change when classifications are revised
4. Which feature places an organism in the domain Eukarya?
Its cells contain a nucleus enclosed by a membrane
It must be multicellular
Its cell walls contain peptidoglycan
Its cells lack membrane-bound organelles
5. Canis lupus and Canis latrans are listed in a field guide. What can you conclude directly from their names?
They must be capable of routinely producing fertile offspring
They are two common names for the same species
They belong to different genera within the same family
They belong to the same genus but are different species
6. Two organisms are classified in the same family but in different genera. Which statement must be true within the standard hierarchy?
They share both a family and an order
They share a genus but have different species epithets
They are members of the same species
They belong to the same class but to different orders
7. Two animals look similar because they adapted independently to the same environment, but DNA evidence places them in distant lineages. How would modern classification usually treat the evidence?
It would classify the animals together because visible similarity always determines relatedness
It would give substantial weight to the DNA and other evolutionary evidence
It would ignore both appearance and DNA and classify only by habitat
It would place them in the same species because they share adaptations
8. Which taxonomic rank is directly below order in the standard hierarchy?
Phylum
Class
Genus
Family
9. A newly studied single-celled organism lacks a nucleus and has cell walls containing peptidoglycan. To which domain should it be assigned?
Eukarya
Archaea
Bacteria
It cannot be assigned because peptidoglycan occurs equally in all three domains
10. What is the primary purpose of a dichotomous key?
To identify an organism through a sequence of paired choices
To establish universal common names for species
To measure genetic differences numerically
To show every known ancestor of an organism
11. Which description best defines a monophyletic group, or clade?
A common ancestor and only some of its descendants
A common ancestor and all of its descendants
Organisms with similar body shapes, regardless of ancestry
Species that occupy the same ecological role
12. A species is reassigned to a different genus after new evolutionary evidence is reviewed. Which part of its binomial name must change?
Only the family name attached to the binomial
The species epithet must always be replaced
The first word, which identifies the genus
Neither word, because scientific names cannot be revised
13. Species A and Species B belong to the same genus. Species C is in the same family but a different genus. What is the most reasonable inference?
Species A and B must occupy the same habitat
Species A and B likely have a closer evolutionary relationship to each other than either has to Species C
All three species must be able to interbreed
Species A and B must have identical DNA
14. Which statement correctly distinguishes taxonomy from systematics?
Taxonomy studies habitats, while systematics studies anatomy only
Taxonomy applies only to living species, while systematics applies only to fossils
Taxonomy focuses on naming and classification, while systematics also investigates evolutionary relationships
Taxonomy and systematics refer only to the rules for italicizing names
15. In the scientific name Felis catus, what does Felis identify?
The family
The order
The species epithet
The genus
16. Which version correctly formats a scientific name when italics are available?
Homo sapiens, with Homo italicized but sapiens in regular type
Homo Sapiens, with both words italicized and both capitalized
homo sapiens, with both words italicized and neither capitalized
Homo sapiens, with both words italicized and only Homo capitalized