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Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2003 22:20:51 +0100
From: Michel Laurin <laurin@ccr.jussieu.fr>
To: PhyloCode mailing list <phylocode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu>
Subject: Re: One more Recommendation?
Hi everybody, >I forgot: The following should be added to the Recommendation (or form one >of its own, whatever): > >>> >Names formed by adding a prefix to another name should only be defined if >the latter is already an established name. ><< > >So no Eupelycosauria when there is no Pelycosauria, and no Eureptilia when >there is no Reptilia. >(Currently Eureptilia, Reptilia, and Eupelycosauria have phylogenetic >definitions, while Pelycosauria has none.) I disagree with this idea. To take the=20 example of Eupelycosauria, I think that we might=20 want to define that name because there is=20 currently no synonym. Pelycosauria was never=20 defined and presumably never will be because it=20 would refer to the same clade as Synapsida.=20 Synapsida was preferred (over Pelycosauria)=20 presumbaly because of the symmetry with=20 Sauropsida (Synapsida and Sauropsida the two main=20 clades of amniotes) and because it is less=20 incomplete than Pelycosauria. This is because=20 Synapsida included both Pelycosauria and=20 Therapsida. So, we probably should never define=20 Pelycosauria, but that does not mean to me that=20 we should not define Eupelycosauria. This way,=20 we could retain some old names that could be=20 useful to maintain some taxonomic continuity,=20 provided that part of the meaning of the name is=20 preserved under PN (in this case, much of the=20 meaning would remain). I think that in most of the PhyloCode,=20 etymology is not generally regarded as providing=20 the meaning of names; the only article that goes=20 against that is Article 11.8. I do not wish to=20 add too many clauses about etymology to the=20 PhyloCode. Sincerely, Michel -- Michel Laurin =46RE 2696, CNRS Universit=E9 Paris 7 - Denis Diderot 2, place Jussieu case 7077 75005 Paris =46RANCE tel. (33 1) 44 27 36 92 fax. (33 1) 44 27 56 53 http://tolweb.org/tree/laurin/Laurin_Home_page.html