What is the mnemonic used to remember the order of the major taxonomic ranks (Domain through Species)?

• A. Dear King Philip Came Over For Great Soup
• B. King Phillip Came Over From Germany Swimming
• C. King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk
• D. Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family

Answer: (B)

To remember the order of the major taxonomic ranks from Domain to Species, you use a phrase where each word’s initial letter stands for a rank in that exact order: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

A common version is “Dear King Philip Came Over For Good Soup,” where Dear represents Domain, King for Kingdom, Philip for Phylum, Came for Class, Over for Order, For for Family, Good for Genus, and Soup for Species.

So a mnemonic that begins with a word standing for Domain and continues in the same sequence is the complete way to recall Domain through Species. If a version starts with Kingdom and omits Domain, it covers only seven ranks and isn’t the full Domain-to-Species sequence. The same idea applies to variants that skip Domain or use different starting words. The full, correct approach includes Domain at the start and ends with Species.