The Living World Test - 34

In biological classification, rank is the relative position in a hierarchy. There are seven main ranks defined by the international nomenclature codes kingdom, phylum/division, class, order, family, genus, species. Class is a taxonomic rank below phylum and over order. The composition of each class is determined by a taxonomist.

• "Systema Naturae", is the book written by Linnaeus which describes 4326 species of animals and he introduced the Linnaean taxonomy and popularly known as  The Father of taxonomy. 
  
• "Philosophia Botanica", is also written by Linnaeus which is the first textbook of descriptive systematic botany which became basic in the taxonomy. 
•  "Historia Plantarum", is the book written by Theophrastus, who is considered as The Father of botany, was a Greek philosopher.
  

So the correct option is Historia Plantarum.

Carl Linnaeus is famous for his work in Taxonomy, the science of identifying, naming and classifying organisms (plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, etc.). He was born in 1707. In the year 1735, when Linnaeus lived in the Netherlands, he published a book named Systema Naturae. In this book he presented a new classification for the three kingdoms in nature: the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom and the kingdom of stones. Hence, the correct answer is option C.

George Bentham and J. D. Hooker gave a very comprehensive system of classification in their book 'Genera Plantarum'. Bentham and Hooker's system of classification is regarded as the most convenient and suitable system of classification, because of its practical utility.

Taxonomic hierarchy categories were also introduced by Linnaeus. They are also known as Linnaean hierarchy. It is defined as sequence of categories in a decreasing or increasing order from kingdom to species and vice versa. Kingdom is the highest rank followed by division, class, order, family, genus and species. Species is the lowest rank in the Hierarchy. According to the question, option C is correct and other options are wrong.

Sundew is an insectivorous plant in which leaves are modified into special insect catching organs. Its scientific name is Drosera. In it, the mature leaves are spoon-shaped and possess a large number of glandular hairs called tentacles. Each tentacle is stalked, the mucilage secreting gland which is very sensitive to touch. As soon as insect comes in contact with lamina, the tentacles bend over the prey. The presence of tentacles over the lamina give the appearance of dew drops, hence it is known as sundew.

Solution

Correct answer is option B.
Explanation for correct option:

• The taxonomic hierarchy includes eight ranks from general classification to specific classification: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.
• The tiger is the largest living cat species. The scientific name of the tiger is Panthera tigris.

 Explanation of incorrect options:

• Flies belong to the order Diptera.
• Cuttlefish are classified under class Cephalopod.
• Humans are classified under the family Hominidae. 

• Pliny the Elder introduced the first system of artificial classification. His book Historia Naturalis, mentions over 1,000 economic/ medicinal plants with about 2,000 items.
  
• Andrea Cesalpino was an Italian physician, philosopher and botanist. In his works he classified plants according to their fruits and seeds rather than alphabetically or by medicinal properties. 
• Oswald Tippo was an American botanist. He wrote the widely used textbook  "College Botany". 
• Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, who is popularly known as The Father of taxonomy and became famous with his books Systema Naturae, Species Plantarum. 

So the correct option is Pliny. 

The reproductive characteristics, which prevent species from fusing is the isolating mechanisms. Isolating mechanisms are particularly important in the biological species concept, in which species of sexual organisms are defined by reproductive isolation, i.e., a lack of gene mixture.

The botanical nomenclature is the scientific naming for the plants. This nomenclature is given by the International Code of Nomenclature for organisms such as bacteria, plants, fungi etc. It is followed worldwide to identify an organism. According to this rule, the name of organism has a combination of genus and species. There are two words, first is the genus name and the other is the species name. The first letter or the first part is always capitalized and the rest are written in small. The terms are printed in italics or underlined in hand written. Thus, the correct answer is B.