Re: final thoughts

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

Nick,
    I was not talking about the "defined" holophyletic groups.  I am 
talking about taxa like Lophotrochozoa (invertebrate superphylum), which is 
almost certainly paraphyletic (its proposed synapomorphies are actually 
symplesiomorphies).  It gave rise to Ecdysozoa (another superphylum), which 
I would agree is probably holophyletic (but deeply nested within 
Lophotrochozoa).
    The most damaging paraphyletic group, which is widely regarded as 
holophyletic, is Domain Bacteria (eubacteria).  Far from being sister group 
to the "Archaea"-Eukaryota clade, the actual sister group of the latter 
clade is deeply nested within the eubacteria.
    Unfortunately, because of the undue influence of Carl Woese, 
bacteriologists continue to use members of "Archaea" as outgroups to 
eubacteria, which is sort of like using birds as an outgroup to 
reptiles---in which case reptile phylogenies would be totally distorted, 
having dinosaurs as the most basal reptiles instead of mesosaurs or 
pelycosaurs (or primitive anapsids for the "cladistic" Reptilia sensu 
stricto).
    In the same way, eubacterial phylogenies are highly distorted because 
they are erroneously believed to be holophyletic (or at least treated as 
such by misrooting them with an "Archaea" outgroup).  There are many other 
cases of paraphyletic groups being treated as if they are holophyletic.  The 
rush to cladify is creating all kinds of problems that are not yet readily 
apparent, but will cause all kinds of confusion in the years to come.  
Cladistic analysis is a very powerful tool, and like any powerful tool, it 
can be very destructive when used improperly.  In many cases, I believe 
strictly cladistic classifications (especially at higher taxonomic levels) 
will continue to generate more such problems, and it's just one more reason 
for eclecticists to dislike them.
                  -----Ken Kinman
P.S.  By the way, I usually do not use the name "Archaea" or 
"Archaebacteria" (eubacteria are far more archaic), so I use the term 
Metabacteria (proposed by Japanese biologists in 1979, but ignored by Woese 
and therefore almost everyone else).  But to maintain continuity and 
minimize confusion, I divide Phylum Metabacteria into Classes Crenarchaea 
and Euryarchaea (and maybe these classes will be renamed when people realize 
they are deeply nested within eubacteria, and are therefore not "archaic").  
Woese's attempt to cladify life into three Domains is going to fall flat on 
its face, and this is something all cladists should be concerned about.  The 
paraphyly of Lophotrochozoa will likewise cause years of problems for 
invertebrate zoologists, until it is recognized that its purported holophyly 
was based on symplesiomorphies.  So it goes.
*********************************************************
> kinman@hotmail.com writes:
> > And of course, there are other purported holophyletic taxa proposed by 
> cladists that are probably really paraphyletic (and they are more 
> problematic when they go unrecognized).

> NJPharris@aol.com responded:
> First, if they are defined as "holophyletic", they cannot be paraphyletic.  
> There is no way to make "the common ancestor of all living mammals and all 
> of its descendants" paraphyletic.
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com