Systematics: Historical Overview

Christopher J Humphries, The Natural History Museum, London, UK

Published online: September 2005

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003337

Prior to Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, the origin of systematics dates back to the Greeks, but it was the development of the Greek model by Linnaeus in the middle of the eighteenth century that is recognized as the starting point of systematics. The changes in method that have come about since that time are largely due to different appreciations as to what constitutes homology, hierarchy and the relationship between systematics and evolution.

Keywords: systematics; taxonomy; phenetics; cladistics; computer algorithms; parsimony

Figure 1. The tree-of-Porphyry. After Baldwin (1911) figure on page 714.
Figure 2. Bronn's tree of animal relationships, with geological time and level of organization conflated along the axis. After Bronn (1858).
Figure 3. A presumed phylogeny used to depict a ‘grade’ classification of Mayr and others. In example 1, B=orang-utan, C=gorilla and chimpanzee, D=Homo sapiens (Mayr, 1969). In example 2, B= other diapsid reptiles, C=crocodilians and D=birds. A=the common ancestor in both examples.
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 References
    book von Baer KE (1828) Uber Entwickelungsgesichte der Thiere: Beobachtung und Reflexion. Königsberg: Bornträger.
    book Bronn HG (1858) Untersuchungen über die Entwickelungs-Gesetze der Organischen Welt während der Bildungs-Zeit Unsehre Erd-Oberfläche. Stuttgart.
    book Cuvier G (1830) The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity with its Organisation, 15 vols. London: William S. Orr.
    book Darwin CR (1859) On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the struggle for Life, 1st edn. London: John Murray.
    book Haeckel E (1866) Generelle Morphologie der Organismen: Allgemeine Grundzüge der organischen Formen-Wissenschaft mechanisch begrü-ndet durch die vo Charles Darwin reformierte Descendenz-Theorie, 2 vols. Berlin: George Reimer.
    book Hennig W (1996) Phylogenetic Systematics. Urbana, IL.: University of Illinois Press.
    book de M de Lamarck J-B-P-A (1815–1822) Système des Animaux sans Vertèbres, 7 vols, 1st edn. Paris: Verdiere.
    book Linnaeus C (1758) Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, tomus 1, 10th edn. Malmiae: Laurentii Salviae.
    book Macleay WS (1819, 1821) Horae Entomologicae: Or Essays on the Annulose Animals (1 vol. in 2 parts) London: S. Bagster.
    book Mayr E (1969) Principles of Systematic Zoology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
    Mayr E (1974) Cladistic analysis or cladistic classification. Zeitschrift für Zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung 12: 19–128.
    book Sneath PHA and Sokal RR (1973) Numerical Taxonomy:The Principles and Practice of Numerical Classification. San Francisco: WH Freeman.
 Further Reading
    book Panchen AL (1992) Classification, Evolution and the Nature of Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    book Nelson G and Platnick NI (1981) Systematics and Biogeography: Cladistics and Vicariance. New York: Columbia University Press.

Related Sub-Topics:

Classification | Evolution: Theories and Ideas | History
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Article Title: Systematics: Historical Overview
 
How to Cite close
Humphries, Christopher J(Sep 2005) Systematics: Historical Overview. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0003337]