[Taxacom] Pteridophyta

[Stephen Thorpe]

Ken: as I read Jim's comment, he was actually in agreement with what  
you just said!
[Jim said] it seems to be phylogenetically quite meaningless, dare I  
say 'wrong', to do so.  But, as a concept it is meaningful to them in  
their context
[interpretation] it is STRICTLY meaningless CLADISTICALLY, but  
PRAGMATICALLY meaningful



Quoting Kenneth Kinman <kennethkinman at webtv.net>:

> Hi Jim,
>       Phylogenetically the taxon Phylum Pteridophyta is indeed not a
> single clade, but to call it "meaningless" just because it is
> paraphyletic is frankly just another case of strictly cladistic hogwash
> and propaganda.  You call people wrong to consider Pteridophyta a good
> taxon in which to express their interest.  But those "heaps of people"
> would consider you equally wrong in criticizing them for studying a
> paraphyletic taxon just because it happens to exclude that taxon's
> spermatophyte descendants.
>        Consider the fact that before spermatophytes evolved,
> pteridophytes were the only tracheophytes in existence.  In other words,
> pteridophytes were a clade before one of them happened to give rise to
> spermatophytes.  Therefore it is hardly a meaningless taxon.  It is
> really no different than criticizing people who specialize in studying
> reptiles just because Reptilia happens to be paraphyletic.
>         --------Ken Kinman
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Jim Croft wrote:
> There are heaps of people around the world who profess an interest in
> 'pteridophytes', even 'Pteridophyta'.  Even though based on compelling
> evidence, it seems to be phylogenetically quite meaningless, dare I say
> 'wrong', to do so.  But, as a concept it is meaningful to them in their
> context.
>
>
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