| A | B |
|---|
| taxonomy | science of classifying and naming organisms |
| taxon | level within the Linnaean system of classification (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, or species) that is organized into a nested hierarchy (plural: taxa) |
| binomial nomenclature | naming system in which each species is given a two-part scientific name (genus and species) using Latin words |
| genus | first name in binomial nomenclature; the second-most specific taxon in the Linnaean classification system that includes one or more physically similar species, which are thought to be closely related |
| phylogeny | evolutionary history of a group of related species |
| cladistics | method of organizing species by evolutionary relationships in which species are grouped according to the order that they diverged from their ancestral line |
| cladogram | diagram that displays proposed evolutionary relationships among a group of species |
| derived character | trait that differs in structure or function from that found in the ancestral line for a group of species; used in constructing cladograms |
| molecular clock | theoretical clock that uses the rate of mutation to measure evolutionary time |
| mitochondrial DNA | DNA found only in mitochondria, often used as a molecular clock |
| ribosomal RNA | RNA that is in the ribosome and guides the translation of mRNA into a protein; also used as a molecular clock |
| Bacteria | one of the three domains of life, containing single-cells prokaryotes in the kingdom Bacteria |
| Archaea | one of the three domains of life, containing single-celled prokaryotes in the kingdom Archaea |
| Eukarya | one of the three domains of life, contains all eukaryotes in kingdoms Protista, Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia |
