Learn Taxonomy and Insect Biology: 123 Flashcards on Classification, Nomenclature and Entomology

Deck RY3511 is called Taxonomy & Invertebrates, and the first label is accurate while the second is not. There are no molluscs here, no annelids, no cnidarians, no echinoderms, no sponges. Past card 74 the deck becomes pure entomology, and it is very good entomology. Read it as two decks: 74 cards on how biologists name and classify life, then 49 cards on insects.

Sample cards

Block one: naming and classifying

The vocabulary you leave with: taxon, taxonomic hierarchy, alpha and beta taxonomy, microtaxonomy and macrotaxonomy, circumscription, homonym, type specimen, binomial nomenclature, author citation, monograph, taxonomic revision. The method terms: cladistics, monophyly, paraphyly, polyphyly, synapomorphy, cladogram, dendrogram, spindle diagram, phenetics and neighbor joining, the ICZN and ICN codes, and the PhyloCode. The history: Aristotle's scala naturae, Theophrastus leaving us Cornus, Crocus and Narcissus, Cesalpino's De Plantis (1583) and his recognition of Asteraceae and Brassicaceae, John Ray's 18,000 plant species in 1682, Linnaeus and the 1753/1758 cutoff for valid names, Lamarck, Chambers, Huxley using Archaeopteryx, and the modern synthesis of the early 1940s. Plus the three-domain system and Luketa's five-dominion proposal of 2012.

Block two: insects

Anatomy and physiology, densely: chitinous exoskeleton, head-thorax-abdomen, prothorax, mesothorax, metathorax, three pairs of legs on the thorax, up to two pairs of wings, compound eyes and ocelli, ommatidia, antennae, spiracles and tracheal tubes, open circulatory system, hemolymph and hemocytes, crop and midgut, Malpighian tubules, ventral nerve cord, aedeagus, spermatheca, ootheca. Then life history and ecology: molting, holometabolism versus hemimetabolism, parthenogenesis, haplodiploidy, voltinism, stridulation, pheromones, eusociality, Apterygota versus Pterygota, the five most diverse orders with Coleoptera on top, the four great radiations (beetles ~300 mya, flies ~250 mya, moths and wasps ~150 mya), why Paleozoic oxygen allowed giants and why spiracles cap insect size today, and the fact that 80 to 90 percent of flowering plants rely on insect pollination.

Two tips for this deck

Do not mistake it for an invertebrate deck. If you are sitting a zoology paper that covers Porifera, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Annelida, Platyhelminthes and Echinodermata, a perfect score here leaves you with roughly one phylum covered. The only nod to the wider group is Aristotle's Anhaima. Pair RY3511 with a second deck rather than trusting the title.

Move card 72 to the front and update card 41. The deck hands you the rank mnemonic, Do Kings Play Chess On Fine Glass Sets, at card 72, which is 68 cards after you first needed it. Drag it to the top of your queue. And the Catalogue of Life card still quotes 1.64 million species as of April 2016; the catalogue has kept growing, so edit the back or suspend the card rather than memorizing a stale figure.

Block one overlaps heavily with the evolution material, especially cladistics, common descent and Archaeopteryx. If you have already run that deck, suspend the duplicates and read our study guide to Evolution for the complementary angle.

Deck RY3511 - Taxonomy & Invertebrates is in the Flip It library at flip-it.app.