The
classification of organisms begins with the
kingdom. There are five kingdoms of living
organisms:
- Animalia (animals)
- Plantae (plants)
- Protista (single-celled organisms)
- Monera or Procaryotae (bacteria and blue-green algae)
- Fungi (a person who is fun)
Of course, I am just kidding, fungi is the plural of
fungus, and refers to
mushrooms and
mushroom-like things.
There are also Viruses, which are considered alive by some and not by others, since they have many of the criteria for life, but cannot reproduce by themselves. Most scientists consider viruses semi-alive.
Below the kingdom in the classification system is the phylum. Although there is also a subkingdom / domain classification between 'kingdom' and 'phylum', it is not usually used in biological identification.
But 'kingdom' is a bit of a problematic classification scheme. There are three domains - Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya. The Eucaria are eukaryotes, meaning they have a nucleus, and the other two domains are prokaryotes, having no nucleus. Archaea and Bacteria comprise the kingdom Monera, so that neither kingdom nor domain can be above the other in the classification system.
Basically, the classification of life is more complex than previously thought (when these terms came into usage). Lord Brawl tells me that Monera has been split up into two kingdoms. I haven't heard, but if it's true, I'll update this, of course. In any case, it's bound to happen sometime. Archaea and Bacteria are more different than plants and animals.