Message 2001-02-0040: Re: Genera as clades, Re: clades and species

Thu, 08 Feb 2001 22:51:50 +0100

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Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 22:51:50 +0100
From: David Marjanovic <David.Marjanovic@gmx.at>
To: PhyloCode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu
Subject: Re: Genera as clades, Re: clades and species

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These two posts again show the difference between paleo- and =
neontologists. Extant monotypic genera are quite rare, while by far most =
Mesozoic dinosaur genera are monotypic, and IMHO they deserve so, =
because the fossil record just is... Most paleontologists will never get =
into the situation of naming anything between genus and species.

There are counterexamples. The placoderm "fish" Bothriolepis with its =
reported 100 species comes to mind. But this is not the norm among =
fossils.
Some fossil genera that were thought to contain about 20 species, =
notably Rhamphorhynchus, Pterodactylus and Triceratops, have been shown =
to contain only one or so, all others being =
ontogenetic/individual/sexually dimorphic/whatever variants. The same =
has happened to many genera that were thought to contain 2 or 3 species. =
More examples in The Dinosauricon...

In short: More interdisciplinary communication. If too many or too few =
neontologists or paleontologists are involved in making the PhyloCode, =
the others will run into problems.

--Boundary_(ID_2oilxeUDGJI9cJWtsPPV7w)
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<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>These two posts again show the =
difference between=20
paleo- and neontologists. Extant monotypic genera are quite rare, while =
by far=20
most Mesozoic dinosaur genera are monotypic, and IMHO they deserve so, =
because=20
the fossil record just is... Most paleontologists will never get into =
the=20
situation of naming anything between genus and species.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>There are counterexamples. The =
placoderm "fish"=20
<EM>Bothriolepis</EM> with its reported 100 species comes to mind. But =
this is=20
not the norm among fossils.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Some fossil genera that were thought to =
contain=20
about 20 species, notably <EM>Rhamphorhynchus</EM>, =
<EM>Pterodactylus</EM> and=20
<EM>Triceratops</EM>, have been shown to contain only one or so, all =
others=20
being ontogenetic/individual/sexually dimorphic/whatever variants. The =
same has=20
happened to many genera that were thought to contain 2 or 3 species. =
More=20
examples in The Dinosauricon...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>In short: More interdisciplinary =
communication. If=20
too many or too few neontologists or paleontologists are involved in =
making the=20
PhyloCode, the others will run into problems.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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