[Taxacom] Are species real? Doesn't matter.

[Richard Pyle]

I think the point is that the "entity" of a species exists in our minds, but
not in nature. It's not our job as taxonomists to discover them; but rather
to define them for our own purposes (communication).  Phylogenetic histories
(clades), to the extent that we currently understand them, can be
discovered, because (presumably) there was a sequence of discrete
reproductive events that occurred over time.

At least that's my take.

Aloha,
Rich

> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Guido Mathieu
> Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 9:56 PM
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Are species real? Doesn't matter.
> 
> Seems to me that much of the discussion is due to the use of 
> the word species for the 'entity', which occurs in nature 
> regardless of being discovered, observed, described... by 
> men, as well as for the 'ID-entity', i.e. the formalization 
> (taxon, concept, hypothesis...) in which science tries to 
> catch that entity. 
>    
> Guido 
> 
> G. Mathieu
> Research Group Spermatophytes
> Ghent University, Belgium
> www.peperomia.net