Reading a Classification Table Practice

Name ______Reading a Classification Table Practice

The table below shows the complete classification of several species of animals. Use the table to answer the questions that follow.

Organism House cat Red Fox Dog Wolf Gopher Fly

Kingdom Animalia Animalia Animalia Animalia Animalia Animalia

Phylum Chordata Chordata Chordata Chordata Chordata Arthropoda

Class Mammalia Mammalia Mammalia Mammalia Mammalia Insecta

Order Carnivora Carnivora Carnivora Carnivora Rodentia Diptera

Family Felidae Canidae Canidae Canidae Geomyidae Muscidae

Genus Felis Vulpes Canis Canis Thomomys Musca

Species domesticus fulva familiaris lupus bottae domestica

1. What is the scientific name for the house cat?

2. What is the scientific name for the gopher?

3. What is the scientific name for the red fox?

4. What kind of animal is Vulpes velox? How do you know?

5. What is the complete classification of Vulpes fulva?

6. What is the complete classification of Vulpes velox?

7. If an animal is in the genus Musca, what CLASS would it have to be in?

8. If an animal is in the family Canidae, what ORDER would it have to be in? What CLASS?

9. From the table, which two animals are most closely related? Explain.

10. At what classification level does the evolutionary relationship between gophers and house cats diverge?

11. How does the table indicate that a dog is more closely related to a red fox than to a house cat?