A Pokemon Taxonomic System.

[sv_01]

Staryu and Starmie might also be animals.
Snorunt and Glalie are Non-organic, and so is Cryogonal.

Also, the Gyarados example should be corrected.

 

[Not Meowth]

But Cryogonal is a snowflake. Snowflakes aren't man-made.

 

[opaltiger]

I put Lileep and Cradily in plants because I always thought they were fossilised plants :V

They're crinoids. Definitely animals.

 

[sv_01]

But Cryogonal is a snowflake. Snowflakes aren't man-made.

But it's not amorphous. It's solid and has a definite shape. And it isn't a mineral, so it must be Inorganic.

And Corsola is an animal.

 

[Sesquipedalian!]

<wondrous joy>


UNDECIDED
- Staryu/Starmie; amorphous/non-organic/mineral
- Sableye; amorphous/mineral
- Chimecho/Chingling; non-organic?
- Snorunt/Glalie; non-organic? (need to fit in a group with Froslass)
- Elgyem/Beheeyem
- Litwick/Lampent/Chandelure; amorphous/non-organic
- Pawniard/Bisharp

Wonderful, Meowth! I must dearly commend you for conducting such an extensive list, bravo indeed. I shall support the aforementioned changes in the listings of certain Pokemon, i.e. Cradily and Lileep, as aforementioned. As for the non-organic/anthropogenic kingdom, I suppose it may be considered a mistake on my part as such due to similar reasons of narrowing "Ghost types" when "Amorphous" would be appropriate - indeed, non-organic or based upon non-organic factors in general would be more appropriate, as I suppose everyone is quite sure - in such a case, Cryogonal would indeed be classified into that class.

As for the aforementioned "mystery Pokemon", so to speak, I shall attempt to classify them per the Kingdoms and reasons as such:

- Staryu/Starmie; Animal, due to inspiration from echinoderms in general
- Sableye; This is indeed a rather challenging one - it may indeed Amorphous due to the factor of being of the Ghost-type, but its aesthetic appears more definite in form. Indeed, if Bulbapedia is correct, they appear to be based on the Hopkinsville Goblin, which if is taken into account, along with their aforementioned definite shape and tangible reactions with other minerals (crushing them using their teeth), Sableye may be one of the Ghost-type exceptions classified as Animals.
- Chimecho/Chingling; Non-Organic would indeed be appropriate.
- Snorunt/Glalie; Non-Organic would again be appropriate - less so for Snorunt, perhaps.
- Elgyem/Beheeyem - This is another challenging classification. They may either be classified as Amorphous or Non-Organic beings, and I am personally leaning towards the latter simply for the aesthetic. The reason for the former may be due to their basis upon extraterrestrial beings.
- Litwick/Lampent/Chandelure; Quite certainly Non-Organic, due to their basis on light features.
- Pawniard/Bisharp - I suppose Animal would be the most fitting classification if other anthropomorphic Pokemon are considered in the Animal kingdom.

And now it is indeed time for: The Teacod Linguistic Massacre with Sesquipedalian!

I shall utilise I liek Squirtles' lovely suggestions as they are indeed quite lovely along with more Greek and Latin silliness.

Legendaries - Mythosa
Amorphous - Geisa
Mineral - Oryktosa
Plant - Phytosa
Animal - Metazoa (Yes this is an extremely general term, this is one term I wish for alternatives the most)
Non-Organic - Abiota

Please do suggest any alterations to these above names if required and necessary, as they are not concrete.

Using the Gyarados example for the second time,
Kingdom - Metazoa
Egg Group - Piscodrakonos

Thus, Gyarados' current taxonomic listing would be under Metazoa Piscodrakonos, but clearly there are a number of other species as such so we may require further divisions.

As for the classifications per type, I shall simply use the factors of Water and Flying for a basis and note if any alterations may be directly made.

Let us note that:
Water - Hydros (Hydro-)
Flying - Ouranos (Ourano-)

Piscodrakonos + (Hydro- + Ouranos)

Thus, Gyarados would be Piscodrakonos Hydroouranos or Piscodrakonos Hydrouranos of the Metazoa kingdom, however, again, there are multiple instances of these Water/Flying pokemon, thus this distinction may not be the most viable.

I must commend the immediate interest in some for this simple idea, however. <insert obligatory "MAKING THIS HAPEN" reference>

 

[Aletheia]

See, this is the thing that bugs me most about this. What's the point of a taxonomic system if more than one species have the exact same name?

(also, how would evolutionary lines be handled? is each Pokemon an individual species?)

 

[Not Meowth]

They're crinoids. Definitely animals.

So they are. Oops.

But it's not amorphous. It's solid and has a definite shape. And it isn't a mineral, so it must be Inorganic.

And Corsola is an animal.

...I keep forgetting coral is a colony of tiny organisms and not actual rock. And really I just put Cryogonal in Amorphous for lack of a decent place to put it; it should have gone on the Undecided list really. Its Pokédex entry mentions it melting into steam, so maybe it's kind of amorphous? Blah, inorganic will do.

See, this is the thing that bugs me most about this. What's the point of a taxonomic system if more than one species have the exact same name?

(also, how would evolutionary lines be handled? is each Pokemon an individual species?)

They won't. Each evolutionary family will have its own genus and each Pokémon in it will have an individual species name, and those are really the only two names species ever get referred to by.


re: naming things by their type combinations- they change an awful lot through evolution, so that's not going to work at all. Good luck assigning one to the Eevee line :p

 

[Sesquipedalian!]

See, this is the thing that bugs me most about this. What's the point of a taxonomic system if more than one species have the exact same name?

(also, how would evolutionary lines be handled? is each Pokemon an individual species?)

Indeed, it is the major problem, and it is indeed why an alternative method may be used. The above methods were possibilities of further classifications, one would suppose, that may be further subdivided i.e. how the Linneaus-based taxonomic system holds its own levels. The most specific differences I may currently consider between species (besides aesthetic) is the Species Name of a Pokemon, but again, there are similarities. Quite hopefully, this may be worked around - either through the use of an alternative method in itself or playing around with how exactly the names are shown as to differentiate between individual Pokemon.

Per context, my consideration is that of three paths I had first considered when creating the Egg Group system -

1. The Pokemon are indeed their own separate species, and this is displayed through different species names
2. The Pokemon are named after their normal, English names as species.
3. The Pokemon are indeed their own separate species, but this is displayed in a manner of numbering attached to the specific species name of the first Pokemon in the evolutionary line, perhaps.

Let us, in this example, use Magikarp's Japanese name, Koiking, as the basis of a species name and placeholder.

Thus, Magikarp would be:
Piscodrakonos Unokoiking

and Gyarados would be:
Piscodrakonos Doskoiking

(Of course, Spanish numbers are utilised here as placeholders for more appropriate prefixes.)

This would limit the extensive requirement of specific species names, at least relatively, whilst remaining distinct. However, the matter of naming the first Pokemon in an evolutionary line per its species is a more distinct manner entirely.

Of course, number 3 is extremely convoluted and 2 is more preferable an option.

re: naming things by their type combinations- they change an awful lot through evolution, so that's not going to work at all. Good luck assigning one to the Eevee line :p

Indeed, such typing-based classification may be considered something more appropriate for using elemental types as a distinct classification level itself, but even that is not the most reliable.

 

[Aletheia]

It's just this seems a tad bit arbitrary. The best way would be using aspects of the Pkmn that are important to trainers/breeders/coordinators. Specifically, incorporating element type, egg group, and showing what evolutionary line the Pokemon belongs to would be most important. I like the idea of having the first Pokemon name the line
(the koiking family :3)

Hey, what do coordinators care about in a Pokemon?

EDIT: Here's a little something I came up with:
Formula for naming Pkmn:
[elemental type(s)][general suffix referring to Pkmn] [egg group] [name of first species in line][suffix showing order in line]

And, of course, we'd need to come up with some supercool terms for all this.