Latin names versus scientific names [was: So much for nomenclatural stability]

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 01:15 AM 3/10/2005, Richard Pyle wrote:
> > 'Tis a cladist's perspective.  There are still surviving members of the
>dying breed of naturalists who see evolutionary relationships as being one
>of the most important kinds of information communicated among taxonomists
>via scientific nomneclature -- but not the *only* kind of information.<

Or perhaps more importantly, that we eschew the absolute dependence on only
ONE kind of evolutionary information -- branching pattern.  Some of us
prefer a more wholistic and naturalistic perspective on evolution and
classification than the stringently artificial and monothetic view of
cladistics.  We prefer to take into account *all* aspects of evolution
rather than determining a priori, as Linnaeus did with stamen and carpel
number, that branching pattern is THE most important character to use in
classification.

Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
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"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that stood his ground."
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