SnakeWrangler
Very Well-Known Member
Hey,
I am trying to find some info on how animals (herps mainly) are classified and how the scientific names work
I have been looking at http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/ and it has the animals listed under ORDER, SUBORDER, FAMILY and SUB FAMILY.
So how does this stuff work, let me see if I understand it, then someone can show me where I am going wrong.
All lizards and snakes are of the ORDER: SQUAMATA (is this for all of these world wide??)
This order is further divided into 2 SUBORDERs: SERPENTES for Snakes and SAURIA for lizards
After this, they are divided once again into a FAMILY: AGAMIDAE for Dragons, GEKKONIDAE for Geckos, etc... the same goes for the snakes.
The FAMILY can the either contain animals directly or it can be further divided into a SUBFAMILY, is there anything after the SUBFAMILY, or do they stop here and then go into the names of the animals.
Can an ORDER or SUBORDER contain animals directly, or must they be divided into FAMILIES and so on??
Does this remain the same for all animals, or only reptiles, is this the standard for classifying animals??
Also, does anyone know of a good site that contains lots of other herps listed (not so much reptiles) like the site mentioned, that site has a huge list of reptiles, but I am also looking for other herps as well.
Man this stuff is confusing. :shock:
Cheers.
I am trying to find some info on how animals (herps mainly) are classified and how the scientific names work
I have been looking at http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/ and it has the animals listed under ORDER, SUBORDER, FAMILY and SUB FAMILY.
So how does this stuff work, let me see if I understand it, then someone can show me where I am going wrong.
All lizards and snakes are of the ORDER: SQUAMATA (is this for all of these world wide??)
This order is further divided into 2 SUBORDERs: SERPENTES for Snakes and SAURIA for lizards
After this, they are divided once again into a FAMILY: AGAMIDAE for Dragons, GEKKONIDAE for Geckos, etc... the same goes for the snakes.
The FAMILY can the either contain animals directly or it can be further divided into a SUBFAMILY, is there anything after the SUBFAMILY, or do they stop here and then go into the names of the animals.
Can an ORDER or SUBORDER contain animals directly, or must they be divided into FAMILIES and so on??
Does this remain the same for all animals, or only reptiles, is this the standard for classifying animals??
Also, does anyone know of a good site that contains lots of other herps listed (not so much reptiles) like the site mentioned, that site has a huge list of reptiles, but I am also looking for other herps as well.
Man this stuff is confusing. :shock:
Cheers.