Jain Biology: Units Of Classification

The basic unit is the SPECIES, e.g., housefly, musca domestics, and similar species are grouped into GENERA, (sing. Genus) e.g. Musca is the genus, and the domestica is the species.

1. SPECIES: A species is a group of organisms which resemble each other in all important characteristics. The members of a species are capable of inter-breeding, e.g., all varieties of mango plants, (or all varieties of roses or all races of human beings) belong to the same species. Variations in size, shape and colour form varieties. A species may consist of several varieties or none at all.
2. GENUS: A genus is a group of similar and related species. Thus orange, lemon and grape fruit which belong to different species are grouped into a genus Citrus; similarly, lion, tiger, and the common cat, are grouped into a genus—Felis.
3. Similar genera are grouped into Family,
4. Similar families are grouped into Order,
5. Similar orders are grouped into Series,

   Thus, Series under a Class, Classes under a Division and several Divisions form the Plant Kingdom.

   In animal classification—

6. Similar classes are grouped into PHYLA (sing. PHYLUM)