Re: Taxa nomy?

[Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>]

> Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 00:15:56 +1100
> From: zone65@bigpond.com
> 
> I'm still not quite clear on this - supposedly, the concept of
> Linnaean taxonomy is out and cladistics is in... but I keep seeing
> 'genus' and 'species' bandied about, as well as 'taxa'. And nobody
> actually says 'class' anymore, but the distinctions 'mammal',
> 'reptile' 'amphibian' and 'bird' are used with gay abandon (only
> now, 'bird' is a sub...  thingy of 'reptile'). So, what really
> gives?

Peter and anyone else who's lost in this particular maze,

Please see the dinosaur FAQ at
        http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/faq/
and particularly the (long) section on classification.  This is the
fruit of my having gone through exactly the same issues you're
wrestling with now; I wrote down the answers I got in what is
hopefully and easy-to-digest form.

Enjoy.

 _/|_    _______________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor  <mike@indexdata.com>  http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
)_v__/\  "We will be married on Sunday, that's what you promised,
         married on Sunday ...  That was last August!" -- Steven
         Sondheim, "Sweeney Todd"

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