Question

In biological terminology, a group of similar organisms that are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring is called.
(a)Species
(b)Genus
(c)Tribe
(d)Family

Answer 1

Hint: In this level of biological classification, organisms share common characteristics, reproductive compatibility, and are capable of exchanging genetic material. This is the last level or rank of the seven levels of biological classification.

Complete answer:
A species is a group of similar organisms that are capable of interbreeding and produce fertile offspring. It is the basic unit of classification, with an estimated number of 8.7 million found to date. Species are formed by the process of speciation where an ancestral population divides into two or more genetically different progeny populations.

Additional Information: -Organisms of the same species may vary morphologically. For example, let’s look at species - Canis familiaris (domestic dog) where a German Shepherd is morphologically different from a Golden Retriever, even though they belong to the same species.
-Other than viruses, all species are named with two parts known as the binomial nomenclature, where the first part of the binomial is the genus name and the second part is the species name. Example: Homo sapiens, where Homo is the genus name and sapiens is the species name.
Genus: A rank in biological taxonomy, which comes above species and below family in the hierarchy. A genus contains more than one species.
Tribe: A rank in biological taxonomy, which comes above the genus and below family in the hierarchy.
Family: A rank in biological taxonomy, which comes above tribe and below order. Family is further classified into subfamilies, which are transitional ranks between the ranks of family and tribe.
So, the correct answer is ‘Species’.

Note: -Modern Biological classification is based on the genetic material similarity, where the conventional method of classification was based on morphological similarity.
-In Biological classification, there are 7 major ranks or levels, which are Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.
-Carolus Linnaeus is a Swedish botanist who invented the seven levels of biological classification.