Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: rankless nomenclature

[Philip Cantino]

Tom Lammers wrote:

>   What is USDA, F&WS, APHIS, TNC, etc. going to make of this?  "Well,
>under the PhyloCode, this family is called ABC but under the ICBN
>it's called XYZ."

This characterization of the situation is incorrect.  The PhyloCode
will not take a family and name it something else.  If a group that
is currently recognized as a family is monophyletic, the same name
would be adopted under the PhyloCode for this clade.  If a group that
is currently recognized as a family is paraphyletic, the name would
either be unused under the PhyloCode or it would be defined to
include all of the descendants of the common ancestor of the
paraphyletic group to which the name is traditionally applied.  (For
example, the name Apocynaceae might be defined in such a way that it
includes the Asclepiadaceae, thus making it monophyletic.  Of course,
such circumscriptional changes occur under the current system as
well.)

With the two systems operating simultaneously, there will be many
names that refer to the same group under both systems.  There will
also be names that only exist under the rank-based system (e.g.,
names referring to monotypic or paraphyletic taxa) and names that
exist only under the PhyloCode (names referring to clades that no one
has named under the rank-based system).  There should be few cases of
a group having different names under the two systems.  One situation
that will cause this to happen, though, is when a name is
currently used for different sorts of organisms under two or more
codes (e.g., a genus of plants and a genus of animals).  Since the
PhyloCode will apply to all organisms, and clade names will be
unique, some groups will have to be renamed.  For example, if
Prunella were adopted under the PhyloCode for a clade corresponding
to the bird genus Prunella, the clade corresponding to the plant
genus Prunella would have to be named something else under the
PhyloCode.  This will be true of any universal system of
nomenclature.  It will very rarely affect the names of taxa other
than genera.



Tom Lammers also wrote:
"This is not a live-and-let-live scenario.  The PhyloCode will impede
systematics in its mission.  It is not a good thing for anyone."

This extreme statement is based in large part on the misconception,
addressed above, that simultaneous operation of the two systems will
lead to largescale renaming of taxa.


Phil



Philip D. Cantino
Professor and Chair
Department of Environmental and Plant Biology
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701-2979
U.S.A.

Phone: (740) 593-1128; 593-1126
Fax: (740) 593-1130
e-mail: cantino at ohio.edu