Scientific Classification

Flora & FaunaFauna Flora Fauna Flora Funga Glossary Funga Related Topics Scientific Classification Backyard Wildlife Floral Emblems of Australia Wildflowers

Here on AusEmade, we often show scientific classification for most of our flora and fauna. The three main sources we use are Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), iNaturalist (iNatAU and iNat) and Wikipedia.

Sometimes, when researching through the three resources, you will see differences in their classification.

The difference arise, because they use a different taxonomic authority to base their nomenclature on. When looking at Flora, iNat takes it’s taxonomy from Plants of the World Online (which for some people, consider it pretty ordinary for Australian flora) while ALA draws on the Australian Plant Census, which quite often won’t line up with POWO, especially at higher order classifications.

Following examples were researched from the related websites on 29 July 2023.

Difference in scientific classification for the flora species Senecio gregorii

ALA	iNat	Wikipedia
kingdom: Plantae phylum: Charophyta class: Equisetopsida subclass: Magnoliidae superorder: Asteranae order: Asterales family: Asteraceae genus: Senecio species: Senecio gregorii	kingdom: Plantae phylum: Tracheophyta subphylum: Angiospermae class: Magnoliopsida order: Asterales family: Asteraceae subfamily: Asteroideae subtribe: Senecioninae genus: Senecio species: Senecio gregorii	kingdom: Plantae clade: Tracheophytes clade: Angiosperms clade: Eudicots clade: Asterids order: Asterales family: Asteraceae genus: Senecio species: S. gregorii binomial name: Senecio gregorii synonyms: Othonna gregorii

Difference in scientific classification for the fauna species Osphranter rufus

ALA	iNat	Wikipedia
kingdom: Animalia phylum: Chordata subphylum: Vertebrata informal: Gnathostomata class: Mammalia subclass: Marsupialia order: Diprotodontia suborder: Phalangerida superfamily: Macropodoidea family: Macropodidae subfamily: Macropodinae genus: Osphranter species: Osphranter rufus	kingdom: Animalia phylum: Chordata subphylum: Vertebrata class: Mammalia subclass: Theria infraclass: Marsupialia order: Diprotodontia family: Macropodidae subfamily: Macropodinae tribe: Macropodini genus: Osphranter species: Osphranter rufus	domain: Eukaryota kingdom: Animalia phylum: Chordata class: Mammalia infraclass: Marsupialia order: Diprotodontia family: Macropodidae genus: Osphranter species: O. rufus binomial name: Osphranter rufus

Taxonomy — the exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, although the core of the discipline remains: the conception, naming, and classification of groups of organisms.

You can read about Taxonomy (biology) in Wikipedia.

…the only “real” taxonomic rank is the species level – all other levels of taxonomic names above that (Order, Family, Subfamily, Tribe) is a human invention called Classification which helps us to better understand relationships of species. Classification are always changing to better reflect what occurs in the natural world.

Ken Walker

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Flora & FaunaFauna Flora Fauna Flora Funga Glossary Funga Related Topics Scientific Classification Backyard Wildlife Floral Emblems of Australia Wildflowers