Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Three birds have these ranks. House sparrow: Animalia, Chordata, Aves, Passeriformes, Passeridae, Passer. Spanish sparrow: Animalia, Chordata, Aves, Passeriformes, Passeridae, Passer. House crow: Animalia, Chordata, Aves, Passeriformes, Corvidae, Corvus. For each pair, find the lowest rank that they share. Which pair is the closest?
The ranks from the smallest: species, genus, family, order, class, phylum (division in plants) and kingdom. A group at any rank is a taxon. Going up, a group holds more organisms that share fewer features. A species is a group with fundamental similarities, whose members can breed and have fertile young.
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. The two sparrows. All six ranks match: they share the genus Passer.
Step 2. A sparrow and the crow. They differ at the family, so they share down to the order Passeriformes.
Answer: the two sparrows share ranks, down to the genus, and are the closest pair.
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