[Taxacom] Very bad paraphyly

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi Joshua,
       What you said was done in the 5th Edition of "Walker's"
(Tympanoctomys including the two new genera) is the minimum amount of
lumping that I would deem necessary.  However, this still almost
certainly results in a genus Octomys that is paraphyletic (not to
mention monotypic).  I would favor what they did in Walker's 4th
Edition, genus Octomys with two species.  You could recognize
Tympanoctomys as a separate subgenus, but I don't think recognizing four
separate subgenera is necessary at all (although it is certainly better
than four separate genera).       
        -------Ken Kinman
P.S.  If the species Octomys mimax is actually paraphyletic with respect
to the Tympanoctomys forms, some people might argue that all four
species are really just one, even more polytypic, species.  I'm not sure
I would go that far.  They recognize tetraploid species in plants,
amphibians, etc., so why not in mammals (even though it is extremely
rare).