Video Transcript
The taxonomic hierarchy of the European robin is provided in the diagram. What is the correct binomial name for the European robin?
Planet Earth has an incredibly diverse range of living organisms. To make these organisms easier to study, scientists have classified them into distinct groups according to their visible characteristics or evolutionary history. After much study, a hierarchical system of taxonomy has been developed. This includes seven taxonomic ranks: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and the species, which can be seen in this diagram, each one more specific than the last.
A scientist named Carl Linnaeus pioneered concepts of taxonomic hierarchy and developed the use of the binomial nomenclature, which effectively describes how scientists choose the names of living things. This system of devising the scientific name for a species includes both its genus, which is sometimes simplified to just the first letter of its genus, and a species. Generally, when we type a scientific name, we would do so in italics so the letters appear distinctly slanted. When we write a scientific name with a pen, we would usually underline both the genus and the species.
So, the correct scientific name for the European robin using binomial nomenclature would appear like this, Erithacus rubecula.
