List order (was: Maximum Taxon names within a single Parent)

[Ken Kinman]

    I'll comment on taxon ordering first (and then threshold values).  I
pretty much always place the "most-ramified" branchs at the end of my
classifications.  Thus ungulate orders are the last of the mammals listed,
as is traditionally done in mammal classifications and checklists (not the
primates, even though they are sometimes considered "advanced").  And note
that even though pseudungulate orders must now be moved deeper into the
classification, the true ungulates are still the "most-ramified" at ordinal
level.
    Likewise, I don't list Phylum Chordata last in my metazoan
classification, since there are a lot more protostome phyla than
deuterostome phyla.  Admittedly, the alphabetical listing of species within
genera (and genera within families) can sometimes be useful, but I don't
approve of alphabetical classifications at higher taxonomic levels.
     As for Richard's threshold values, I think 256 would be plenty for
higher taxa.  However, at ordinal level, there are around 400 families of
mites (which are often classified as a single order).  I split them into 7
separate orders, the largest (Oribatida) having around 150 families, so 256
might even suffice for mites.  In my opinion, 4096 species taxa seems a
reasonable threshold value (I wouldn't go to 32K just because of Hieracium
or other possible genera that may not have been properly divided yet).
              ---- Cheers, Ken



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