Re: the tonight show

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

George,
     Well, I guess we will just have to "agree to disagree" on this one.  
I've heard similar arguments from strict cladists, but this was the first 
time I've heard it from someone who recognizes the validity and usefulness 
of paraphyletic groups.  I guess that is why I was so surprised.  Of course, 
part of it is probably just semantics, which can make differences seem 
bigger than really are.  C'est la vie.
            ------Cheers, Ken
P.S.  I certainly hope that you are right about your Jurassic "dino-birds", 
so that Aves can be expanded someday [oooops, I think I just heard some 
cladists grumbling].  And wouldn't it be great if Longisquama really was 
related to early dino-birds, and even Feduccia and Martin had it partially 
right.  However, I still have my doubts about Longisquama "feathers", and 
probably too optimistic that we could have such a happy ending to that whole 
debate.  But stranger things have happened.
*****************************************************
Dinogeorge@aol.com 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). A and 
> D are both classified as bacteria because of their resemblance to one 
> another, not by their phyletic separation. Here "bacteria" is a 
> paraphyletic group, because it doesn't include its descendant taxon Homo 
> sapiens.
>
> I'm no fan of strictly cladistic taxonomy. I think it's quite legitimate, 
> indeed, almost mandatory, to define some paraphyletic taxa according to 
> resemblance and not according to phyletic relationship. I'm quite happy 
> with a paraphyletic taxon Dinosauria from which Aves is removed (but even 
> happier with a holophyletic taxon Aves that includes all the theropod 
> dinosaurs, or even all the dinosaurs period).
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