[Taxacom] Reptilia (and Hominidae)

[Curtis Clark]

On 2009-03-17 11:51, Richard Zander wrote:
> Rank counts. There are only two ways to signal information in
> classifications, and those are rank and groupings. Enforcing monophyly
> limits rank as an informational metric.

Allowing paraphyly limits grouping as an informational metric.

A classification that includes all the saurischians in Aves and the rest 
of the dinosaurs in Reptilia precludes the acceptance of a 
classification that includes only the velociraptor-warbler clade in Aves 
and the rest of the saurischia in Reptilia. As I put it to Ken once, 
paraphyletic groups don't play well with others.

-- 
Curtis Clark                  http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/
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