The Five Kingdoms
● The first division of living things in the classification system is to put them into
one of five kingdoms. They are:
○ Animals
○ Plants
○ Fungi
○ Protoctists
○ Prokaryotes
● Main features of all animals:
○ they are multicellular
○ their cells contain a nucleus but no cell walls or chloroplasts
○ they feed on organic substances made by other living things
A typical animal cell
● Main features of all plants:
○ they are multicellular
○ their cells contain a nucleus, chloroplasts and cellulose cell walls
○ they all feed by photosynthesis
A typical plant cell
● Main features of all fungi (e.g. moulds, mushrooms, yeast)
○ usually multicellular
○ cells have nuclei and cell walls not made from cellulose
○ do not photosynthesize but feed by saprophytic (on dead or decaying
material) or parasitic (on live material) nutrition
A typical fungal cell
● Main features of all protoctists (e.g. Amoeba, Paramecium, Plasmodium)
○ most are unicellular but some are multicellular
○ all have a nucleus, some may have cell walls and chloroplasts
○ meaning some protoctists photosynthesise and some feed on organic
substances made by other living things
Two examples of protoctist cells
● Main features of all prokaryotes (bacteria, blue-green algae)
○ often unicellular
○ cells have cell walls (not made of cellulose) and cytoplasm but no nucleus
or mitochondria
A typical bacterial cell
The Animal Kingdom
● Several main features are used to place organisms into groups within the animal
kingdom
Vertebrates
● All vertebrates have a backbone
○ There are 5 classes of vertebrates
Class Main Features Examples
● Fur/hair on skin
● Gives birth to live young
● Have placenta Human, dog, mouse,
Mammals ● Produces milk to feed young
horse
● External ears visible
● Endothermic
● Feathers cover skin
● Have two legs and two wings,
instead of forelimbs
Birds ● Lay eggs with hard shell on land Eagle, hen, duck, pigeon
● Have a beak
● Endothermic
● Dry, fixed scales on skin
Reptiles ● Lay eggs with rubbery shell on Snake, lizard, turtle
land
● Smooth, moist skin
● Lays eggs without shells in water
Amphibian ● Adults live on land (no gills), Frog, toad, newt
larvae live in water (have gills)
● Loose, wet scales on skin
● Lays eggs without shells in water Flounder, tuna, clown
Fish
● Gills to breathe fish
Vertebrate classification
Invertebrates
● Invertebrates do not possess a backbone
● One of the morphological characteristics used to classify invertebrates is whether
they have legs or not
● All invertebrates with jointed legs are part of the arthropod phylum
● They are classified further into the following groups:
Invertebrate Table
Group Main Features Example
● Body consists of many segments
● Each segment contains at least one
Myriapods pair of jointed legs Centipede
● One pair of antennae
● Three part body: head, thorax,
abdomen
● Three pairs of jointed legs
Insects ● Two pairs of wings (these may be Butterfly, ant, wasp
non-functional and/or
underdeveloped)
● One pair of antennae
● Two body parts: Cephalothorax and
abdomen
Arachnids ● Four pairs of jointed legs Spider, scorpion, tick
● No antennae
● More than four pairs of jointed legs
● Chalky exoskeleton formed from
Crustaceans calcium Crab, lobster
● Breathe through gills
● Two pairs of antennae
Arthropod classification
The Plant Kingdom
● At least some parts of any plant are green, caused by the presence of the
pigment chlorophyll which absorbs energy from sunlight for the process of
photosynthesis
● The plant kingdom includes organisms such as ferns and flowering plants
Ferns
● Have leaves called fronds
● Do not produce flowers but instead reproduce by spores produced on the
underside of fronds
Ferns reproduce by spores found in the underside of their fronds
Flowering plants
● Reproduce sexually by means of flowers and seeds
● Seeds are produced inside the ovary found at the base of the flower
● Can be divided into two groups – monocotyledons and dicotyledons
Wheat plants are monocotyledons
Sunflowers are dicotyledons
How do you distinguish between monocotyledons and dicotyledons?
1) Flowers
● Flowers from monocotyledons contain petals in multiples of 3
● Flowers from dicotyledons contain petals in multiples of 4 or 5
2) Leaves
● Leaves from monocotyledons have parallel leaf veins
● Leaves from dicotyledons have reticulated leaf veins (meaning that they are all
interconnected and form a web-like network throughout the leaf)
Comparing monocots and dicots
