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Re: reason for dropping Owen



The exact passage from the draft PhyloCode which I was referencing:

"11.10. Provided that a clade name is acceptable, it remains eligible for
use even if there is no clade that fits its definition under a
subsequently proposed phylogenetic hypothesis...

"Recommendation 11A. Definitions of converted clade names should be stated
in a way that attempts to capture the spirit of historical use to the
degree that it is consistent with the contemporary concept of monophyly.
Consequently, they should not necessitate, though they may allow, the
inclusion of subtaxa that were historically excluded from the taxon. To
accomplish this goal, internal specifiers of converted clade names should
be chosen from among the set of taxa that were considered to form part of
a taxon under either the original or traditional ideas about the
composition of that taxon, and they should not include members of subtaxa
that were not historically considered part of the taxon.

"Example 1: The name _Dinosauria_ was coined by Owen for the taxa
_Megalosaurus_, _Iguanodon_, and _Hylaeosaurus_, and traditionally the
taxon designated by that name has included these and certain other
non-volant reptiles. It has not traditionally included birds. Although
birds are now considered part of the dinosaur clade, the name _Dinosauria_
should not be defined using any bird species as internal specifiers. Such
a definition would force birds to be dinosaurs, thus trivializing the
question of whether birds are dinosaurs. Instead, internal specifiers
should be chosen from among taxa that have traditionally been considered
dinosaurs; e.g., _Megalosaurus bucklandi_ von Meyer 1832, _Iguanodon
anglicus_ Holl 1829, and _Hylaeosaurus armatus_ Mantell 1833."

So it doesn't necessarily say all three should be used:
Clade(_Iguanodon anglicus_* + _Megalosaurus bucklandii_) would be
perfectly acceptable.

[* or _Iguanodon bernissartensis_, the neotype]

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T. MICHAEL KEESEY
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