Paraphyly=mistakes? (There's the rub)

[Curtis Clark]

At 03:12 PM 1/8/02, Richard Pyle wrote:
>I hardly regard it as "artificial" that birds have feathers, can fly, etc.,
>etc.; whereas reptiles do not.

What about those recently discovered dinosaurs with feathers and no wings?

And what if morganucodonts were still around? Would we put them *in*
Mammalia or take the monotremes out?

It's strange how so many of our paraphyletic groups either reflect
ignorance-because-of-extinction, or
ignorance-because-of-not-paying-attention. Willfully using ignorance as a
separation criterion for taxa strikes me as somewhat unscientific.


--
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
Biological Sciences Department             Voice: (909) 869-4062
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