Earth Science c/o taxonomy

Question

Taxonomy for domestic cat:

 

 

 

Kingdom:   Animalia

Phylum:      Chordata

Class:         Mannalia

Order:       Carnivora

Family:      Felidae

Genus:    Felis

Species:   catus

 

(note:  there are breeds of cats, but since all cats can mate and produce fertile offspring, the breeds are not considered different species)

 

 

How would I write a scientific article about domestic cats by using binomial nomenclature when refering to cats in the article.

Answer 1

Hi L,

 

Firstly, it is Class: Mammalia and not  Mannalia.

 

You can use Felis catus, study the characterisitics of different breeds and elaborate in your article that why these are same species with different features. The clue is that phenotype of the different organisms of the same species comes from two main factors: first, the genotype and second their epigenome. The epigenome does not change the genome directly yet it affects the genes in a manner that genes function differently thereby imparting different phenotypic features to an organism. Environmental factors including living condition as well as availability of diet affects epigenome. This is a fairly sound scientific argument to describe a domestic animal like a cat in an article.

 

I hope this helps.