[Taxacom] Tuataras are REAL (the relativity of reality)

[J. Kirk Fitzhugh]

Ken,

I assume you have actually observed a specimen called a tuatara, 
given that it does exhibit the qualities of an individual. Have you 
ever observed a clade? If so, what were the properties of it that 
allowed you to perceive it? If those properties are nothing more than 
the properties inherent in a given tuatara, then you have merely 
perceived a specimen you call a tuatara. Clades are neither 
individuals nor classes. A clade simply summarizes the past 
reproductive events that indicate the origins and fixation of derived 
characters, and events of population splitting. Clades as such are 
simply explanatory constructs that enable us to make sense of why 
some tuataras have certain traits in contrast to what are observed of 
other lizards.

Kirk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
J. Kirk Fitzhugh, Ph.D.
Curator of Polychaetes
Invertebrate Zoology Section
Research & Collections Branch
Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90007

Phone:   213-763-3233
FAX:       213-746-2999
e-mail:   kfitzhug at nhm.org
http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/staff.html
http://www.nhm.org/research/annelida/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu on behalf of Ken Kinman
Sent: Fri 6/1/2007 8:09 PM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: [Taxacom] Tuataras are REAL (the relativity of reality)

Dear All,
       These endless arguments about whether species are real (or not) seem
largely to be semantic exercises which largely rest upon on which particular
species one is talking about.  The fuzzier they are, the more likely they
are to be branded a class of objects rather than a real entity.

       The tuatara is an excellent example.  Admittedly, we could probably
argue endlessly about whether there are actually one or two species of
extant tuataras.  HOWEVER, tuataras are so distinctive that I cannot see how
anyone can argue against the reality that they constitute a REAL clade of
organisms which share descent from a common ancestral population of tuataras
(whether it is one or two distinct species just distracts from the reality
of the clade).  Such a clade seems to me to be BOTH a class AND an
individual.  It's like having your cake and eating it too, but some seem
intent on denying that we can have our cake and eat it too, even in such
clear-cut cases.

       Why can't it be both, rather than only one or the other?  It is only
in a minority of cases that we can do this, so why not celebrate them rather
than insist that it has to ALWAYS be only one or the other just because many
cases are not so clear-cut?  In a Universe full of continuua, it seems such
a waste of time arguing over a term like "reality", when it is such a
relative term and dependent on a given context and perspective.
     ----Ken Kinman

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