Why didn't Linnaeus create taxonomic groups for viruses?

1 Answer
Joëlle
Jun 11, 2016

They were not discovered yet.

Explanation:

Carl Linnaeus lived from 1707 to 1778. He was a botanist who described a new classifying system for plants and animals in his manuscript ' Systema Naturae ' (1735).

Viruses were discovered around 1982, centuries after Linnaeus died.

There is still a lot of debate whether it is even possible to create taxonomic groups for viruses. If you want to know more about that dilemma, I recommand reading the scientific article of Lawrence et al. 2002 .

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