bio destroyer...stupid question.

[njdoc327]

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hey all..i'm looking at destroyer 2012, number 231 for bio.

the question asks: organisms which have the greatest number of similarities are grouped in a:
a. kingdom
b. phylum
c. order
d. family
e. genus

now i know the answer is genus. but if species was a choice, that would be the answer right? i just wanted to clarify. thanks

 

[famousbanker]

Yes, similarities grow in number between organisms as you go down from the kingdom level.

Organisms decrease in similarity as you move up towards the kingdom level because you are moving towards increasingly broader classification 'umbrellas'.

Here is an example that is completely taxonomically incorrect but will serve to demonstrate the point. Members of the genus "horse"(no such genus) include animals that have 4 legs, run fast, and eat hay. The members include zebras, thoroughbreds, clydesdale etc.

The species of horse that have 4 legs, run fast, eat hay AND are white/have stripes are zebras.

I realize this is a silly example, but as you can see, the organisms under the classification umbrella 'species' have more similarities than organisms under the broader classification umbrella 'genus'.

The concept is not difficult, it is simply how destroyer words things sometimes that make the questions challenging.