Fwd: Re: rankless nomenclature

[Philip Cantino]

Doug Yanega wrote:

>
>Okay, I realize you can't respond again today, but does the above *really*
>not strike you or anyone else as absurd? Just think of what a vanishingly
>small percentage of the > 1 million names presently valid under the ICZN
>actually have a "published phylogenetic definition," and then tell me,
>honestly, that you believe that phylogeneticists (which, you will perhaps
>be amused to know, is what I would be, were I actively revising any
>speciose taxa) will find the time and energy to RE-publish all of the
>remaining names along with phylogenies. The vast majority of extant
>arthropod names will NEVER be accepted under the PhyloCode, even if the
>vertebrate names get taken care of in a few decades. You are, by
>definition, making it impossible for the PhyloCode to ever replace the
>Linnaean system, since there are many more Linnaean-named taxa than can
>ever be placed into phylogenies.


I don't think anyone who has contributed to this discussion has
suggested that the PhyloCode would replace the Linnaean system in the
forseeable future.  And I don't know any PhyloCode proponents who
truly believe that this will occur either.  The two systems serve
different functions.  Some systematists will not find the PhyloCode
useful, and some systematists do not find that the current system
meets their needs.  The two systems can coexist and complement each
other, as Rich Pyle has eloquently argued.

The PhyloCode will initially be used much more by systematists
working on relatively well known groups--particularly vertebrates and
angiosperms.  Only time will tell whether systematists who work on
arthropods and other groups with a high species/taxonomist ratio will
find the PhyloCode useful.  If not, so be it, but why deny those of
us who are trying to document the phylogeny of relatively well known
groups a tool that would make our work much easier?

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