Re: Paraphyly post

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/12/01 9:31:10 AM EST, kodiak@ohmaha.inetworld.net writes:

<< Dinogeorge wrote:
 
 >No, bacteria A and D simply >resemble< each other more than do bacterium A
 >and Homo sapiens C. Homo sapiens C and bacterium D are, however, equally
 >closely >related< to ancestral bacterium A (and thus to each other).
 
    Wouldn't bacteria D be even *further* removed than Homo sapiens C
 from common ancestral bacteria A because it had more numerous generational
 cycles in between?
 
    It seems to me that using using time alone to compare relatedness
 to a common ancestor--like measuring the distance between two points on a
 piece of paper--is inadequate in this case. >>

Time is rather irrelevant in phyletic classifications, particularly since 
we're not sure of the rate at which the molecular clock or the evolutionary 
clock ticks. Generational cycles may not be important either, since the germ 
cells of a multicellular organism may arise at rates quite different from 
that of the organism itself.