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Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 21:22:24 +0100
From: David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>
To: PML <phylocode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu>
Subject: One more Recommendation?
Currently Eotetrapoda includes Tetrapoda, Eosauropterygia includes Sauropterygia, Paraves includes Aves, Pseudosuchia includes Suchia, Prototribosphenida includes Tribosphenida, and so on; in some minority phylogenies Eumaniraptora includes Maniraptora. These cases are etymologically absurd (all tetrapods are "dawn tetrapods", birds are "besides birds", all crocodiles and their closest relatives are "false crocodiles", all derived mammals are the "first" such, and perhaps not all "true" maniraptorans are maniraptorans). Therefore I would like to propose the following Recommendation: >> Many names are formed by adding a prefix (such as eo- "dawn", para- "besides", pseudo- "false", proto- "the first", eu- "good, true") to an existing name. To prevent absurdities (such as Pseudosuchia including Suchia, thus "crocodiles" being "false crocodiles") under all likely phylogenies, names with such prefixes should be carefully defined (for example, Pseudosuchia should be defined as excluding *Crocodylus niloticus*). << (Pseudosuchia is a relatively harmless example because it is rarely used.)