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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 14:47:55 -0500 (EST)
From: "T. Mike Keesey" <tmk@dinosauricon.com>
To: -PhyloCode Mailing List- <PhyloCode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu>
Subject: Re: interesting style of definition
On Thu, 14 Feb 2002, Mieczyslaw Wolsan wrote:
> There are at least three problems with this definition. First, the clade
> referred to by the definition changes with the extinction of taxa; and this
> is the most serious problem.
Perhaps if "extant" were emended to "extant at this time". We'd still have
a problem, though, if a previously unknown extant outgroup were found.
"Currently known to be extant"? "Currently published and extant species"?
> Second, it is not clear whether "the last common ancestor" is contained
> in the clade or not (as a non-native English speaker I cannot evaluate
> this properly, but I do not think that the word "stemming" specifies
> this unambiguously).
I think it does. PhyloCode uses that word, doesn't it?
> Third, "the last common ancestor" may refer to either a species or a
> population, or a breeding pair, individual organism, etc.; in each
> instance, we have to do with a different clade. This might seem like
> extreme pedantry, but if explicitness in phylogenetic nomenclature is
> important, this should be reflected in the wording of phylogenetic
> definitions.
Well, PhyloCode says it's a species, right? (The article does say it's
adhering to PhyloCode rules ... although, as I pointed out, this style of
definitions doesn't seem to....)
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