Message 2002-04-0019: Re: genus definitions

Wed, 01 May 2002 09:34:20 -0700 (PDT)

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Date: Wed, 01 May 2002 09:34:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: "T. Michael Keesey" <mightyodinn@yahoo.com>
To: Mailing List - PhyloCode <PhyloCode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu>
Subject: Re: genus definitions

(This is in reply to a message that was intended to go to this list.)

--- JRW <jrwakefield@convergeadv.com> wrote:
> 
> > In the next version of my website (The Dinosauricon -
http://dinosauricon.com),
> > I don't want to distinguish between genera and clades. The problem is that
very
> > few dinosaurian genera have been cladistically defined (the only example I
can
> > think of is _Archaeopteryx_, IIRC, and that was problematic - more below).
> 
> Does this not beg the question as to how certain fossil dinos ended up in
> the same Genera in the first place?   If a specific Genera for a group of
> species of dinos (who may not even have been contemporaneous in space and
> time) was not based on a cladistic analysis, how can one be sure the Genera
> is "natural"?   I think this is a good example of why Genera, and the other
> levels, need to go, IMHO.

I agree that the levels need to go -- but the names don't. My post is about
using Genus names as clades, not about incorporating actual genera into the
PhyloCode.

_Tyrannosaurus_, _Homo_, _Drosophila_, _Magnolia_, etc. can continue to exist
in PhyloCode, not as genera, but as clades converted from genera.

=====
=====> T. Michael Keesey <keesey@bigfoot.com>
=====> The Dinosauricon <http://dinosauricon.com>
=====> BloodySteak <http://bloodysteak.com>
=====> Instant Messenger <Ric Blayze>
=====

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