Name: ...... Class: ...... Date: ......
Lesson 3: The 5 kingdoms
Worksheet:
Cracking the classification code
Each level of the Linnaean classification system is like a code that describes the way an organism looks or behaves.
Kingdom
Animalia – has many cells with a nucleus, is able to move freely from one area to another, needs to eat its nutrients and gives birth to live young.
Plantae – has many cells with a nucleus and cell wall. Although it can move one part of its body, it usually stays in the one place. It uses photosynthesis to makes its own food (it has green chlorophyll) and has seeds.
Fungi – usually has many cells with cell walls, needs to eat its nutrients, has spores instead of seeds and usually does not move from place to place.
Phylum
Chordata – has a vertebrate column with a cord of nerves that runs through it at some point in their life, has an endoskeleton (internal skeleton) and has a tail at some stage of their life (sometimes before they are born).
Mollusca – has a large external shell with a hollow centre filled with fluid.
Cnidaria – has no skeleton and has at least two stages of life – a free-swimming stage as a bell shape, and a stage when it settles down in one place as a vase-shaped polyp. It contains stinging cells for defence or capturing food.
Arthropoda – has an exoskeleton (external skeleton), jointed appendages (legs) and a body made of segments that allow movement.
Class
Bivalvia – has an external shell divided into two halves that are connected with a hinge.
Mammalia – has a fur or hair-covered body, gives birth to live young, feeds its young with milk produced by mammary glands and is able to keep the blood at a constant temperature.
Pisces – lives in water, has a non-constant body temperature. The skin is covered in scales, and it breathes through gills.
Reptilia – lives on land, has a body covered in scales, lays eggs, has a non-constant body temperature and breathes through lungs.
Amphibia – lives part of its life in water and part on land, lays eggs, has a body covered in moist skin and has a non-constant body temperature.
Aves – has a body covered in feathers, lays eggs, has a constant body temperature and breathes through lungs.
- Find each of the classification groups in the word search.
A / M / P / H / I / B / I / A / A / M
V / A / I / N / Q / I / J / N / N / O
E / C / S / N / W / V / K / G / I / L
S / I / C / B / E / A / R / I / M / L
E / E / E / B / R / L / E / O / A / U
R / B / S / V / T / V / P / S / L / S
T / F / U / N / G / I / T / P / I / C
C / A / P / V / Y / A / I / E / A / A
C / N / A / C / U / J / L / R / Q / S
H / O / I / X / I / H / I / M / M / M
O / P / L / D / O / G / A / O / N / A
R / O / D / R / A / F / L / P / B / M
D / I / F / L / P / R / Q / H / V / M
A / U / G / K / A / K / I / Y / C / A
T / Y / H / J / S / S / W / A / R / L
A / P / L / A / N / T / A / E / E / I
A / R / T / H / R / O / P / O / D / A
- Name an animal that fits into each of the classification groups above.
- Make a classification key that will identify each of the classes mentioned in the key.
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