Difference Between Nomenclature and Classification with Examples

What is the difference between nomenclature and classification?

Nomenclature and classification are two main terms commonly used in taxonomy. These terms play a crucial role when it comes to the identification and grouping of living organisms.

The main difference between nomenclature and classification is that the former refers to the naming of organisms whereas the latter refers to a grouping of organisms in hierarchical series.

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Difference Between Nomenclature and Classification

Comparison Table (Nomenclature vs Classification)

Basic Terms	Nomenclature	Classification
Meaning	It is a scientific naming living organisms	It is a method of organizing living organisms in hierarchical series of groups.
Subject	Involve naming of organisms	Involve organizing organism in a hierarchical series
Description	Genus and species provide scientific names	Has seven taxonomic units

What Is Nomenclature?

It is a scientific system of naming living organisms. Binomial nomenclature is the formal system of naming organisms by giving them two names.

The first name given to the organism indicates the genus and the second name is the species. The genus name initial letter is written in capital and the species name initial letter is small.

The naming system is used all over the world by biologists. The international code of botanical nomenclature and zoological nomenclature are the two codes that use the protocols.

Examples of Nomenclature include:

Homo sapiens
Panthera tigris
Ananas comosus
Copsychus saularis
Orcinus orca

What Is Classification?

It is a scientific method where scientists organize organisms in hierarchical series of groups and subgroups. This is usually based on similarities and differences.

The grouping helps to make the identification of living things easy and facilitate further study of the organism. The study of classification is known as taxonomy.

Research shows that there are about seven taxonomic units in classification. For example, Kingdom, phylum/division, class, order, family, genus, and species.

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Examples of Classification

Organism	Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family	Genus	Species
Lion	Animalia	Chordata	Mammalia	Carnivora	Felidae	Panthera	P.leo
Humans	Animalia	Chordata	Mammalia	Primates	Hominidae	Homo	H.sapians

Main Differences between Nomenclature and Classification

Nomenclature is the formal system of naming organisms whereas classification is a scientific method of organizing organisms in a hierarchical series of groups and subgroups.
Nomenclature is the naming of the organism while classification is the scientific method of organizing an organism
The classification has seven taxonomic units while nomenclature has two parts of names

Similarities between Nomenclature and Classification

Both are two vital aspects of taxonomy
Both are developed by Carl Linnaeus
Both terms embrace the use of Latin names

In Conclusion

Nomenclature and classification are vital aspects of taxonomy. The core difference is that nomenclature involves the naming of the organism while classification involves organizing organisms in hierarchical series of groups.

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