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Although they aren’t called Joe or Maria, bacteria, like all living things, have names. Scientists put organisms into groups, mostly based on similar characteristics. This method of naming organisms lets us know how closely two life-forms are related. It also helps scientists around the world communicate with each other, because a scientific name is the same in any language.
The scientific name for organisms has two parts:
- The genus is the first part of the name. It names a group that the organism belongs to.
- The species name comes next. It is the name for the specific organism.
For example, here’s the scientific name for the common house cat:
