Re: Rank taxonomy (was Re: Cladism (akin to masochism))

[Tom Holtz <tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov>]

>>I'm not sure if the above is very coherent (its very late and I should be in
>>bed), so I'll give an example of your dinosaur (throwing in one or two extra
>>nodes).
>>
>>        Node No         Name                    Parent No
>>        1               Dinosauria              NULL
>>        2               Saurischia              1
>>        3               Ornithaschia            1
>                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>    Oh no, another name change!!!!

No, a typo.

>>        6               Tetanurae               4
>>        7               Coelurosauria           6
>                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>    Anybody wanna guess why _the Dinosauria_ lists no species for the
>Coelurosauria except those that are Theropoda incertae sedis?  Am I missing
>a clade somewhere?

Coelurosauria gets a brief mention in Osmolska's intro to the Theropoda.
All of the following chapters talk about true coelurosaurs:
Ornithomimosauria; Oviraptoridae; Elmisauridae; Troodontidae; and
Dromaeosauridae.  Some of the taxa in both Problemetic theropod chapters
are coelurosaurs.

And, coelurosaurs are such a diverse group, they require individual
chapters for each subgroup (just as the Ornithopoda got several chapters,
and not just one).

                                
                 Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.                  Phone: 703-648-5280      
                 Vertebrate Paleontologist         Fax:    703-648-5420
tholtz@geochange.er.usgs.gov ------------>       th81@umail.umd.edu
U.S. Geological Survey          ------------->       University of Maryland
Branch of Paleontology & Stratigraphy ---->       Department of Geology
MS 970 National Center
Reston, VA  22092               ------------->        College Park, MD  20742
                                                          U.S.A.