[Taxacom] Reptilia (and Hominidae)

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 10:12 AM 3/16/2009, Kenneth Kinman wrote:
>If strict cladifications tend to be more destabilizing and sometimes even 
>less informative, why
>continue doing it just because of some arbitrary rule against paraphyletic 
>taxa?

Key word: "arbitrary."  I do not buy that "non-informative" 
mumbo-jumbo.  The decision to enforce holophyly as the only sort of 
mono[phyly seems to me to be a fiat a priori with no rational justification.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
800 Algoma Blvd.
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and 
biogeography of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
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http://www.kewbooks.com/asps/ShowDetails.asp?id=615
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