common name
|
squid, American lobster, blue mussels, American oysters, flat oysters
|
phylum
|
arthropoda, mollusca, mollusca, mollusca, mollusca
|
class
|
malacostraca, bivalve, bivalve, bivalve, cephalopod
|
order
|
decapod, mytiloida, ostreoida, ostreoida, decapod
|
family
|
nephropidae, mytilidae, ostreidae, ostreidae, loliginidae
|
Genus
|
Homarus, Mytilus, Ostrea, Lolgio, Crassostrea
|
species
|
americanus, virginica, edulis, edulis, opalescens
| At a reception, a sea-food casserole is being served, containing lobster, squid, mussels, and two types of oysters. Since all of these marine organisms are mixed on the plate, the taxa of the five species are mixed up in the table to the side. The table must be redone in order to place each organism in the appropriate taxon in the hierarchy.
A casserole of taxa
TAXA
|
squid
|
American lobster
|
blue mussels
|
American oysters
|
flat oysters
|
phylum
|
mollusca
|
arthropoda
|
mollusca
|
mollusca
|
mollusca
|
class
|
cephalopod
|
malacostraca
|
bivalve
|
bivalve
|
bivalve
|
order
|
decapod
|
decapod
|
mytiloida
|
ostreoida
|
ostreoida
|
family
|
loliginidae
|
nephropidae
|
mytilidae
|
ostreidae
|
ostreidae
|
Genus
|
Lolgio
|
Homarus
|
Mytilus
|
Crassostrea
|
Ostrea
|
species
|
opalescens
|
americanus
|
edulis
|
virginica
|
edulis
|
Only in the Genus do the five organisms all have different names. The order that appears in both the phylum arthopoda and mollusca is that of decapods, which signifies 10 feet. Both the Genus Mytilus and Ostrea contain a species edulis, which signifies “edible”.
The American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and the flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) are the two organisms most closely related, they share most of the same taxonomy. The American lobster is the most distantly related of the five, it belongs to another phylum and shares little in common with the other organisms. |