Video Transcript
The taxonomic hierarchy of a fruit
fly is provided in the diagram. What taxonomic rank is represented
by Insecta?
Let’s start by reviewing taxonomy,
which is the study of biological classification. We commonly use seven main
taxonomic categories: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. The relationship between each of
these groups is illustrated in the diagram on the right. The largest taxonomic group shown
here is the kingdom, and each kingdom consists of many phyla. Each phylum consists of many
classes, and so the pattern continues until the smallest division, the species. The species is commonly accepted as
one of the smallest taxonomic ranks. And it consists of organisms that
can reproduce with each other to create fertile offspring.
Now, let’s take a look at the
taxonomic hierarchy of a fruit fly, which is provided to us by the diagram in the
question, and apply our knowledge about the different taxonomic groups.
As we now know, the kingdom is one
of the largest taxonomic groups. And the fruit fly belongs to
kingdom Animalia. The next largest, and broadest,
taxonomic group is the phylum, and the fruit fly belongs to the phylum
Arthropoda. The next taxonomic group in the
taxonomic hierarchy is the class, and fruit flies are in the class Insecta. Fruit flies are in the order
Diptera, the family Drosophilidae, the genus Drosophila, and species
melanogaster.
The scientific name for a living
organism includes both its genus and its species. So the scientific name for the
fruit fly is Drosophila melanogaster, which is often shortened to simply
D. melanogaster, as we can see written at the bottom of the
flowchart.
We now have enough information to
answer the question correctly. The taxonomic rank represented by
Insecta is the class.
