Message 2005-05-0014: RE:PhyloCode

Sat, 12 Mar 2005 21:01:13 -0500

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Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 21:01:13 -0500
From: [unknown]
To: phylocode@ouvaxa.cats.ohiou.edu
Subject: RE:PhyloCode

Hello Michel and all

My concern is for the ordinary person more than for the scientists si=
nce
language is the way we communicate scientist and nonscientist alike. =
An
ordinary person for example would not call a bird a dinosaur for inst=
ance. I
am not saying PhyloCode should not use old names only that it should =
not
redifine words but rather instead coin in such cases a new ones so th=
at the
old words would not be for PhyloCode and would be left to their fate =
in
dictionaries. People may still use them but if PhyloCode succeeds the=
n they
would not be a scientific names.
Sincerely,

Yisrael

----- Original Message -----
=46rom: "Michel Laurin" <laurin@ccr.jussieu.fr>
To: "Yisrael Asper" <yisraelasper@comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 12:54 PM
Subject: Re: PhyloCode


Hello,

>I read about the PhyloCode in Discover Magazine. The only thing that=
 seems
>frightening about it would be if names are redefined in it.

They cannot be redefined because they
have not really been defined under the old codes;
only a type is included, and that is the extent
of the definition (not much).

>People would not
>like to have to call birds Reptilia for instance.

Actually, many scientists who are against
the PhyloCode do place birds within Reptilia.

>So Ithink there should be
>a rule
>for PhyloCode set that whenever a would be PhyloCode definition for =
a word
>would otherwise differ from a definition already accepted even from
>PhyloCode, that a new term be made instead, with the otherwise old n=
ame
>being
>declared from the point of view of PhyloCode as describing a nonexis=
tent
>category.

We have discussed this extensively and
the consensus is that we want to be able to reuse
old names, such as Reptilia, Dinosauria and
Osteichthys, even though they traditionally
referred to paraphyletic taxa.

Sincerely,

Michel

>Yisrael Asper


--
Michel Laurin
FRE 2696, CNRS
Universit=E9 Paris 7 - Denis Diderot
2, place Jussieu
case 7077
75005 Paris
FRANCE

tel. (33 1) 44 27 36 92
http://tolweb.org/tree/laurin/Laurin_Home_page.html

Secretary of the International Society for Phylogenetic Nomenclature

  

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