The 10th edition of Systema Naturae (Latin; the English title is A General System of Nature) is a book written by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus and published in two volumes in 1758 and 1759, which marks the starting point of zoological nomenclature. In it, Linnaeus introduced binomial nomenclature for animals, something he had already done for plants in his 1753 publication of Species Plantarum .
Before 1758, most biological catalogues had used polynomial names for the taxa included, including earlier editions of Systema Naturae. The first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature across the animal kingdom was the 10th edition of Systema Naturae. The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature therefore chose 1 January 1758 as the "starting point" for zoological nomenclature and asserted that the 10th edition of Systema Naturae was to be treated as if published on that date. [1] Names published before that date are unavailable, even if they would otherwise satisfy the rules. The only work which takes priority over the 10th edition is Carl Alexander Clerck's Svenska Spindlar or Aranei Suecici, which was published in 1757, but is also to be treated as if published on January 1, 1758. [1]
During Linnaeus' lifetime, Systema Naturae was under continuous revision. Progress was incorporated into new and ever-expanding editions; for example, in his 1st edition (1735), whales and manatees were originally classified as species of fish (as was thought to be the case then). In the 10th edition, they were both moved into the mammal class. [2]
The animal kingdom (as described by Linnaeus): "Animals enjoy sensation by means of a living organization, animated by a medullary substance; perception by nerves; and motion by the exertion of the will. They have members for the different purposes of life; organs for their different senses; and faculties (or powers) for the application of their different perceptions. They all originate from an egg. Their external and internal structure; their comparative anatomy, habits, instincts, and various relations to each other, are detailed in authors who professedly treat on their subjects." [3]
The list has been broken down into the original six classes Linnaeus described for animals; Mammalia, Aves, Amphibia, Pisces, Insecta, and Vermes. These classes were ultimately created by studying the internal anatomy, as seen in his key: [3]
By current standards Pisces and Vermes are informal groupings, Insecta also contained arachnids and crustaceans, and one order of Amphibia comprised sharks, lampreys, and sturgeons.
Linnaeus described mammals as: "Animals that suckle their young by means of lactiferous teats. In external and internal structure they resemble man: most of them are quadrupeds; and with man, their natural enemy, inhabit the surface of the Earth. The largest, though fewest in number, inhabit the ocean." [3]
Linnaeus divided the mammals based upon the number, situation, and structure of their teeth, into the following orders and genera:
Linnaeus described birds as: "A beautiful and cheerful portion of created nature consisting of animals having a body covered with feathers and down; protracted and naked jaws (the beak), two wings formed for flight, and two feet. They are areal, vocal, swift and light, and destitute of external ears, lips, teeth, scrotum, womb, bladder, epiglottis, corpus callosum and its arch, and diaphragm." [3]
Linnaeus divided the birds based upon the characters of the bill and feet, into the following 6 orders and 63 genera:
Linnaeus described his "Amphibia" (comprising reptiles and amphibians) as: "Animals that are distinguished by a body cold and generally naked; stern and expressive countenance; harsh voice; mostly lurid color; filthy odor; a few are furnished with a horrid poison; all have cartilaginous bones, slow circulation, exquisite sight and hearing, large pulmonary vessels, lobate liver, oblong thick stomach, and cystic, hepatic, and pancreatic ducts: they are deficient in diaphragm, do not transpire (sweat), can live a long time without food, are tenacious of life, and have the power of reproducing parts which have been destroyed or lost; some undergo a metamorphosis; some cast (shed) their skin; some appear to live promiscuously on land or in the water, and some are torpid during the winter." [3]
Linnaeus divided the amphibians based upon the limb structures and the way they breathed, into the following orders and genera: [4]
Linnaeus described fish as: "Always inhabiting the waters; are swift in their motion and voracious in their appetites. They breathe by means of gills, which are generally united by a bony arch; swim by means of radiate fins, and are mostly covered over with cartilaginous scales. Besides the parts they have in common with other animals, they are furnished with a nictitant membrane, and most of them with a swim-bladder, by the contraction or dilatation of which, they can raise or sink themselves in their element at pleasure." [3]
Linnaeus divided the fishes based upon the position of the ventral and pectoral fins, into the following orders and genera: [3]
Linnaeus described his "Insecta" (comprising all arthropods, including insects, crustaceans, arachnids and others) as: "A very numerous and various class consisting of small animals, breathing through lateral spiracles, armed on all sides with a bony skin, or covered with hair; furnished with many feet, and moveable antennae (or horns), which project from the head, and are the probable instruments of sensation." [5]
Linnaeus divided the insects based upon the form of the wings, into the following orders and genera: [6]
Linnaeus described his "Vermes" as: "Animals of slow motion, soft substance, able to increase their bulk and restore parts which have been destroyed, extremely tenacious of life, and the inhabitants of moist places. Many of them are without a distinct head, and most of them without feet. They are principally distinguished by their tentacles (or feelers). By the Ancients they were not improperly called imperfect animals, as being destitute of ears, nose, head, eyes and legs; and are therefore totally distinct from Insects." [7]
Linnaeus divided the "Vermes" based upon the structure of the body, into the following orders and genera: [7]
The second volume, published in 1759, detailed the kingdom Plantae, in which Linnaeus included true plants, as well as fungi, algae and lichens. In addition to repeating the species he had previously listed in his Species Plantarum (1753), and those published in the intervening period, Linnaeus described several hundred new plant species. The species from Species Plantarum were numbered sequentially, while the new species were labelled with letters. [8] Many were sent to Linnaeus by his correspondents overseas, including Johannes Burman and David de Gorter in South Africa, Patrick Browne, Philip Miller and John Ellis in America, Jean-François Séguier, Carlo Allioni and Casimir Christoph Schmidel in the Alps, Gorter and Johann Ernst Hebenstreit in the Orient, and François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix, Gerard and Barnadet Gabriel across Europe. [9]
New plant species described in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae include:
Carl Linnaeus, also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as Carolus a Linné.
Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts:
Vermes ("worms") is an obsolete taxon used by Carl Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for non-arthropod invertebrate animals.
Order is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes. An immediately higher rank, superorder, is sometimes added directly above order, with suborder directly beneath order. An order can also be defined as a group of related families.
The lesser yellowlegs is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America.
William Turton was an English physician and naturalist. He is known for his pioneering work in conchology, and for translating Linnaeus' Systema Naturae into English.
Systema Naturae is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers, Gaspard and Johann, Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently throughout his book. The first edition was published in 1735. The full title of the 10th edition (1758), which was the most important one, was Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, which appeared in English in 1806 with the title: "A General System of Nature, Through the Three Grand Kingdoms of Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals, Systematically Divided Into their Several Classes, Orders, Genera, Species, and Varieties, with their Habitations, Manners, Economy, Structure and Peculiarities".
Venus is a genus of small to large saltwater clams in the family Veneridae, which is sometimes known as the Venus clams and their relatives. These are marine bivalve molluscs.
Anisus spirorbis is a species of small freshwater air-breathing snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails.
Aplexa hypnorum, or by the common name, the moss bladder snail, is a species of small air-breathing freshwater snail, an aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Physidae, a family which are sometimes known as the bladder snails.
Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and usually no eyes.
Turris babylonia, common name: the Babylon turrid or tower turrid, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Turridae, the turrids.
Luria lurida is a species of sea snail, a cowry, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
Centuria Insectorum is a 1763 taxonomic work by Carl Linnaeus, and defended as a thesis by Boas Johansson; which of the two men should for taxonomic purposes be credited with its authorship has been the subject of some controversy. It includes descriptions of 102 new insect and crustacean species that had been sent to Linnaeus from British America, Suriname, Java and other locations. Most of the new names included in Centuria Insectorum are still in use, although a few have been sunk into synonymy, and one was the result of a hoax: a common brimstone butterfly with spots painted on was described as the new "species" Papilio ecclipsis.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, published in 1758, the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus described 554 species of bird and gave each a binomial name.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus described the Amphibia as:
Animals that are distinguished by a body cold and generally naked; stern and expressive countenance; harsh voice; mostly lurid color; filthy odor; a few are furnished with a horrid poison; all have cartilaginous bones, slow circulation, exquisite sight and hearing, large pulmonary vessels, lobate liver, oblong thick stomach, and cystic, hepatic, and pancreatic ducts: they are deficient in diaphragm, do not transpire (sweat), can live a long time without food, are tenatious of life, and have the power of reproducing parts which have been destroyed or lost; some undergo a metamorphosis; some cast (shed) their skin; some appear to live promiscuously on land or in the water, and some are torpid during the winter.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae of 1758–1759, Carl Linnaeus classified the arthropods, including insects, arachnids and crustaceans, among his class "Insecta". He described the Insecta as:
A very numerous and various class consisting of small animals, breathing through lateral spiracles, armed on all sides with a bony skin, or covered with hair; furnished with many feet, and moveable antennae, which project from the head, and are the probable instruments of sensation.
Animalia Paradoxa are the mythical, magical or otherwise suspect animals mentioned in the first five editions of Carl Linnaeus's seminal work Systema Naturae under the header "Paradoxa". It lists fantastic creatures found in medieval bestiaries and some animals reported by explorers from abroad and explains why they are excluded from Systema Naturae. According to Swedish historian Gunnar Broberg, it was to offer a natural explanation and demystify the world of superstition. Paradoxa was dropped from Linnaeus' classification system as of the 6th edition (1748).
Hysteroconcha dione or the elegant Venus clam, formerly known as Venus dione, is a species of bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams.
The 12th edition of Systema Naturae was the last edition of Systema Naturae to be overseen by its author, Carl Linnaeus. It was published by Laurentius Salvius in Holmia (Stockholm) in three volumes, with parts appearing from 1766 to 1768. It contains many species not covered in the previous edition, the 10th edition which was the starting point for zoological nomenclature.
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