In actuality systematics is one of the major subdivisions of biology, as broad-based as genetics or molecular biology. It includes not only the service functions of identifying and classifying but also the comparative study of all aspects of organisms as well as an interpretation of the role of lower and higher taxa in the economy of nature and in evolutionary his- tory. It is a synthesis of many kinds of knowledge. theory, and method applied to all aspects of classification. The ultimate task of the systematist is not only to describe the diversity of the living world but to contribute to its understanding.