RE: Most popular/common dinosaur misconceptions

["Andrew A. Farke" <andyfarke@hotmail.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] On Behalf Of
> David Marjanovic
> Sent: Friday, August 18, 2006 1:42 PM
> To: DML
> Subject: Re: Most popular/common dinosaur misconceptions
<snip>
>
> Well, there is one, but only historically. Willi Hennig, the entomologist
> who invented cladistics, did so to have a method for making
> classifications;
> he did not, as we do today, regard finding the tree as an end in itself.
<snip>

The last statement is perhaps a little simplified. I *certainly* don't
regard finding the tree as the end, nor would I want to let that be the end
(and I think many would agree). Once you find the tree, you can do the
really cool stuff, like biogeography, functional morphology,
biostratigraphy, and testing of evolutionary scenarios! Of course, I won't
ever try and deny that trees are important for that kind of stuff!

Andy