Linnaeus began naming organisms that were alike using Latin names. He gave each organism two names; for example, the pigmy rattlesnake is called Sistrurus miliarius by scientists. What type of naming system is this and what group does "miliarius" designate?

A. Polynomial nomenclature; genus.

B. Binomial nomenclature; genus.

C. Binomial nomenclature; species.

D. Polynomial nomenclature; species.

C

Explanation:

Carolus Linnaeus is a Swedish naturalist born on the 23rd of May, 1707. He tried naming all living organisms he could find during his time by grouping together those that have a common physical trait. He was the first to frame principles of defining natural genera and species of organism and create a system for naming them. He is regarded as the "Father of Taxonomy" because he developed a system of naming and classifying species, which is still globally recognized and employed today, although correctional changes have been made.

In 1735, Linnaeus published the first edition of a pamphlet explaining a new system of classification called Systema Naturae. In this material, which started with just 11 pages, he classified nature hierarchically (taxa) where he proposed that the whole nature (including plants, animals and minerals) could fit into a broad group called Kingdom (largest). He divided this kingdom into Class, Classes were divided into Order, Order was further divided into Genera (sing - Genus) and then species (smallest). Although, adjustments were made to this classification system but it remains the foundation.

Linnaeus simplified naming by allowing one Latin name indicating the Genus and another indicating the species. These two names make up the binomial nomenclature. Binomial nomenclature is a two term naming system proposed by Linnaeus that uses two of his hierarchical classification (Genus and Species) to name all living organisms. The two terms consists of a capitalized Generic epithet, which is the genus category of that species and the specific epithet, which indicates the species itself.

In this example, Sistrurus miliarius is a the scientific name, comprising of a binomial nomenclature of the pigmy rattlesnake, where the first name is the generic latin name (genus) while the second name is the specific latin name (species).