Dichotomous Key: Create a Key

YOU'RE THE SCIENTIST!

A KEY FOR IDENTIFYING PRIMATE SPECIES

Create Your Own Dichotomous Key to Identify Lemurs

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Genus (plural, genera):
A biological classification, or ranking, of living beings that includes a group(s) of species that are structurally similar or “related” to one another through evolution.

Prosimians:
The most primitive of the primates. “Prosimian” means pre-monkey. The living (extant) prosimians are in the suborder Prosimii, which includes four families of lemurs, the bushbabies (galagos), lorises and pottos, and the tarsiers.

Taxonomy: 
A branch of science that encompasses the description, identification, nomenclature, and classification of organisms.​

Species:
A group of living organisms (animals) consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus.

LEARN MORE ABOUT LEMURS

Creating Your Dichotomous Key

  • Create a dichotomous key based on the 5 specimens in the lemur photo array.
  • Your key must have 2 statements per step.
  • It must have at least 4 steps, but not more than 10 steps.
  • The statements in each step should refer to traits that you can observable in the picture. Ask yourself: “How are the lemurs similar?” “How are they different?”
  • When finished, check to make sure each step correctly leads the user through the key and correctly identifies each primate species.

The answer key is to check your accuracy AFTER you’ve created your lemur dichotomous key. No cheating! 

CREATE A DICHOTOMOUS KEY ANSWER KEY
LEMUR ANSWER KEY

BACK TO:

DICHOTOMOUS KEY INTRODUCTION

GETTING STARTED…PRACTICING OBSERVATION

DICHOTOMOUS KEY TO IDENTIFY TAMARIN SPECIES

EDUCATOR’S PAGE

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