Question

What is the smallest taxonomic group that contains organisms of different species?

Answer 1

Hint: Species are the group of individuals having similar characters which can interbreed among themselves but are reproductively isolated. If we classify the taxonomic categories according to increasing specificity it will follow the order: Kingdom$$\to$$Phylum/ Division$$\to$$Class$$\to$$Order$$\to$$Family$$\to$$Genus$$\to$$Species. All the species must have a common ancestor and must contain morphological and anatomical similarities.

Complete answer:
The smallest taxonomic group containing organisms of different species is Genus. Taxonomy is the branch of biology dealing with the scientific study of rules, principles, and practice of identification, nomenclature, and classification of the organism. Taxonomical hierarchy is the sequence of arrangement of the taxonomic ranks in a decreasing or descending order(from higher category to lower category). Genus can be defined as a group of different species that are closely related to each other. When a genus contains only one species then that particular genus is known as a monotypic genus. An example includes the genus of modern man Homo. When the genus contains more than one type of species in it, then it is known as the polytypic genus. An example includes the genus Panthera which contains different organisms including leo, tigris, pardus, etc. The above-mentioned species of panther are very closely related.

Note. :
A group of related genera (singular – Genus) that are more similar to each other is known as a family. On the morphological features and interbreeding ability, the species can be classified into two types – a. sibling species (the species that are morphologically similar but do not interbreed among each other) and
b. polytypic species (morphologically different, geographically separated species that can interbreed among each other).