[Taxacom] morphology in molecular phylogeny

[Gene Hall]

Well said, Mike.

Gene


>Bad science is bad science, and happens in every field.  It is a
>reflection of the scientist, not the technique.  You and other cite such
>examples for molecular workers.  Thomas Lincoln Casey was strictly a
>morphology-based worker, and perhaps the worst beetle taxonomist who
>ever lived (there are other candidates for this honor, all
>morphologists).  I myself am a morphological worker, and sometimes get
>frustrated with molecular work, but in this line of discussion, it seems
>to be headed towards bad scientists tainting an entire technical field.
>I know people who do good work in molecular systematics who are also
>excellent taxonomists.  I also know people who do terrible work in
>morphological systematics who are morphologists.
>
>Mike
>
>Barry Roth wrote:
>
> >I know of one situation where samples, all identified as the same 
> species, were submitted to molecular systematists, who proceeded to 
> report considerable diversity that "may well represent different species 
> and even a different genus."  They went on to declare the system a 
> "morphostatic radiation" (defined elsewhere as "considerable, rapid 
> speciation with low anatomical diversification" and "low levels of 
> anatomical change").  But the morphological "stasis" was not documented 
> (a single character mentioned as unreliable was one long known by 
> taxonomists to have little diagnostic value in the group in question).  I 
> strongly suspected that the samples included specimens that, had they 
> been reviewed by competent taxonomists, would have been recognized as 
> different species based on morphology.  I was later able to confirm this 
> by examining a few of the specimens that survived the 
> analysis.  Fortunately, the "different genus" was removed from the array 
> that was later reported by
> > two of the original authors in an extended publication; but the 
> "morphostatic radiation" remains a figment of ignored morphological data.
> >
> >  Barry Roth
> >
> >Maarten Christenhusz <maachr at utu.fi> wrote:
> >  To continue the discussion about the destruction of evolutionary 
> morphology in modern biology and systematics, I also think it is 
> unbelievable that anyone can do taxonomy on a group solely based on 
> molecular data, without taking the morphology into account. I would think 
> that the samples used were identified by someone (who seldomly gets 
> acknowledged for doing so correctly) using morphological characters 
> (provided in keys or species descriptions). Many moleular people just 
> believe the identification given with the specimen, without checking if 
> these are correctly identified.
> >
> >---------------------------------
> >Any questions?  Get answers on any topic at Yahoo! Answers. Try it now.
> >_______________________________________________
> >Taxacom mailing list
> >Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> >http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>--
>__________________________________________________
>NOTE NEW ADDRESS:
>
>Michael A. Ivie, Ph.D., F.R.E.S.
>
>For Postal Service Delivery:            For FedEx, UPS or Freight Delivery:
>
>Montana Entomology Collection      Montana Entomology Collection - MSU
>Montana State University                Marsh Labs, Room 50
>P.O. Box 173020                           1901 S. 19th Ave, Room 50
>Bozeman, MT 59717-3020            Bozeman, MT 59717
>USA                                              USA
>
>(406) 994-4610 (voice)
>(406) 994-6029 (FAX)
>mivie at montana.edu
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Taxacom mailing list
>Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
>http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom

********************************************************************************************************
Gene Hall
Invertebrate Zoology Collections Manager
CU Museum of Natural History
UCB 265
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0265
Phone: 303.735.5262   Email: Eugene.Hall at colorado.edu
CU Museum: http://cumuseum.colorado.edu/Research/Zoology/zoology_research.html
Ptiliidae: http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Ptiliidae&contgroup=Staphylinoidea
Coleopterists Society: http://www.coleopsoc.org/