Message 2004-10-0094: Re: Phylogenetic Notation

Wed, 15 Sep 2004 01:19:12 -0700 (PDT)

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Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 01:19:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: [unknown]
To: mightyodinn@yahoo.com, phylocode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu
Subject: Re: Phylogenetic Notation

Mike Keesey (mightyodinn@yahoo.com) wrote:

<_Saurischia_ =3D clade(_Megalosaurus bucklandi_ von Meyer 1632 not
_Iguanodon bernissartensis_ Boulenger in van Beneden 1881)>

  Highlighting this as an example. If the () or {} would enclose a
definition, it is possible to use them to represent the term "clade,"
without specifying otherwise:

  *Saurischia*=3D{*Megalosaurus bucklandi* [von Meyer 1632] > [not]
*Iguanodon bernissartensis* [Boulenger in van Beneden 1881]}

  Words in [] are not part of the set equation. "not" may be problema=
tic
in intuitive notation, so perhaps using the "greater than" may be
preferrable, as has been suggested before, and excluding use of the a=
rrow
as a signifier, since it performs the same function as "not." After a=
ll,
intuitively, the first AND second names are part of the set, neither
should be rejected, hence "not." This cuts the equation down. Since t=
hese
definitions would be used after the first use of the larger nomenclat=
ure
of the text, perhaps as an appendix, one can even use abbreviations:

  *Saurischia*=3D{*M. bucklandi* [von Meyer 1632] > [not] *I.
bernissartensis* [Boulenger in van Beneden 1881]}

  "+" remains a valuable tool, and equates with "and" and "&" intuiti=
vely,
though is not used in higher math, and may permit the shift from curr=
ent
definitions to the new formulae more easily, and still be simplistic.
There will be humans writing this, not robots ;).

  Apomorphy-based clades can be written in simple language, otherwise=
 it
will still be cumbersome to annotate, and reference using a note
elsewhere.

  *Avialae*=3D{apomorph Gg in *Vultur gryphus* [Linnaeus]}

  APPENDIX 2. Apomorphies

  Gg, "wings adapted for use in powered flight" [or whatever].

  Cheers,


=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to mak=
ing leaps in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to =
do.  We should all learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world arou=
nd us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


=09=09
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