[Taxacom] taxonomic resistance? (was Re: Phylocode vs Linnean)

[Karl Magnacca]

> I should have been clearer in that I mean the biology community,
> and not the smaller taxonomists community. I believe you when you
> say the taxonomist community will accept it, but when we go down
> to the drosophilidae taxonomists, it is a mixed bag with some
> participants pretty much openly proclaiming we should not do
> anything (until some arbitrary high threshold is reached)

I don't really think that 1) providing diagnosable characters for
the proposed genera, such that they can be separated with a
dichotomous key, 2) being clear about exactly which species go into
which new genus, and 3) resolving the status of ~100 species that
aren't currently placed to species group and would be left without
generic assignment, are either arbitrary or a particularly high
threshold.  It's kind of basic, actually.  Anybody here disagree?

> Anyway, for the time being, phylocode is what rules the genus
> Drosophila sensu lato.

This is just an absurd statement.  Athough it does make a sort of
sense, in that a few people have proposed generic names for "clades"
that are dissociated from the species binomials (PhyloCode Art. 21),
and are completely ignored in actual usage.

Karl
=====================
Karl Magnacca
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Hawaii-Hilo