[Taxacom] Defining polyphyly

Curtis Clark lists at curtisclark.org
Wed Dec 15 08:37:32 CST 2010


On 12/15/2010 5:09 AM, John Grehan wrote:
> There's the hinge of it all - whether paraphyletic groups are any more 'natural' than those that are polyphyletic.
A paraphyletic group can be specified by synapomorphies (a set for the 
stem group and other sets for the exgroups), so it is as "natural" as a 
monophyletic group. The question is rather, is it useful. And that's 
where the disagreement seems to center.

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