Classification

Biological classification follows a hierarchical rule, whereby species (sexually compatible organisms) are grouped into genera; genera are grouped into families and so on.

The list below expresses this structure in the traditional top down format, in which the higher levels of classification hold the most species, with each subsequent category including sequentially fewer organisms, but there being more units within each subsequent category. That is while families collectively include more species than genera, there are fewer families than there are genera.

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus 
• Species

Note that there are strict rules governing the naming of new species (see ICZN). FlyEvidence reserves the right to choose and publish names for new taxa discovered during provision of identification services.

Professional insect identification uses the convention for binomial names, which is for the genus name to begin with a capital letter and for the species name to begin with lowercase. Both Genus and species should be italicised.

An outline of insect classification can be found here. As research in phylogeny developed, this classification can change - that is, it is not fixed. This has been the case recently in particular reference to molecular (DNA) research, which has combined some previous separate orders into one.