[Taxacom] New systematics book

[Richard Jensen]

I was about to reply on the uninteresting aspects of the other statements
(birds are descended from amniotes, etc.,) but Ken hit the nail on the head!

Dick J


On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 11:32 AM, Ken Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
>
>
>         Thanks Richard.  You expressed it much better than I did, and with
> even better reasons.  I also agree with Curtis that "birds are maniraptoran
> theropods" is more easily subject to falsification, but "birds are
> descended from maniraptoran theropods" is just as easily subject to
> falsification (and even more preferable for the reasons Richard Jensen
> gave).
>
>
>
>            ----------------Ken
>
>
>
> P.S.  The reason noone has said that "birds are descended from
> vertebrates", or even "humans are descended from mammals" is simply because
> noone has classified birds as separate from vertebrates or classified
> humans as separate from mammals (except for creationists).  Birds on the
> other hand have long been classified as separate from reptiles (by
> "evolutionary" taxonomists and most of humanity in general).
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> > Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2013 07:39:24 -0700
> > From: lists at curtisclark.org
> > To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > Subject: Re: [Taxacom] New systematics book
> >
> > On 2013-09-09 7:29 AM, Richard Jensen wrote:
> > > I agree with Ken. The expression "Birds are descended from Reptiles" is
> > > more informative and interesting than is "Birds are Reptiles." First,
> it
> > > clearly states an evolutionary hypothesis. Second, it encourages the
> > > reader to consider what lineage of reptiles differentiated into birds
> and
> > > how this happened.
> >
> > The expression "birds are maniraptoran theropods" is more informative
> > than either one (and more easily subject to falsification, however that
> > might work in systematics).
> >
> > And no one (that I know of) says "birds are descended from amniotes" or
> > "birds are descended from vertebrates", or even "humans are descended
> > from mammals".
> >
> > --
> > Curtis Clark http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark
> > Biological Sciences +1 909 869 4140
> > Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona CA 91768
> >
> >
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> The Taxacom Archive back to 1992 may be searched with either of these
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>
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>
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>
> Celebrating 26 years of Taxacom in 2013.
>



-- 
Richard Jensen, Professor
Department of Biology
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556