Linear organistion of taxanomical hierarchy/order?

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So I vaguely understand the broad strokes, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, etc. and how they act like a tree. What I don’t understand is how the information is organised in a linear fashion.

For example, say I were browsing through a scientific book. In the contents page of the Reptile category, what’s the justification of putting Rhynchocephalia then Squamata, rather than Squamata then Rhynchocephalia? And in the broader strokes, why would I do Mammals, then Reptiles, rather than vice versa. What’s the norm?

Sorry if the question is confusing, will clarify if need be. Thanks 🙂

In: Biology

Anonymous 0 Comments

If I’m not mistaken, that’s simply alphabetical order. It just makes it easier to find things. Basically like this.

Kingdom A

—Class A

——Phylum A

———Order A

———Order B

———Order C

——Phylum B

———Order A

———Order B

———Order C

——Phylum C

———Order A

———Order B

———Order C

—Class B

——Phylum A

———Order A

———Order B

———Order C

——Phylum B

———Order A

———Order B

———Order C

——Phylum C

———Order A

———Order B

———Order C

Etc…

I could be mistaken though, it’s been a while.