Topic summary
Biological classification
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Taxonomy (biology).
Classifying organisms
Biological classification is a critical component of the taxonomic process. As a result, it informs the user as to what the relatives of the taxon are hypothesized to be. Biological classification uses taxonomic ranks, including among others (in order from most inclusive to least inclusive): domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, and strain.