Re: BAD vs. BADD (was: Re: Most popular/common dinosaur misconceptions)

[tholtz@geol.umd.edu]

> Because it is. Cladistics started in entomology.
> Phylogenetic nomenclature seems to have started in
> vertebrate (dinosaur) paleontology. Class, order,
> family and all the other ranks still abound in
> entomology. So too in herpetology, and other realms of
> paleontology that aren?t focused on dinosaurs (I
> suppose the correct ?phylogenetic? term for that would
> be: ?non-dinosaurian paleontology?). Only among
> dinosaurs do I see the ?non-? phraseology pop up
> (notable exception goes to HP Chris Brochu?s work on
> crocodyliformes).

Um, no. There is a phrase which is far more common, far older, and
conceptually the same:

non-human primates.

> Just because the initial change from theropod to
> _Archaeopteryx_ was small, doesn?t mean that labeling
> that spot as a nomenclatural splitting point, isn?t
> useful. From Archie (presumably), birds went off in a
> completely different direction from dinosaurs, and
> became wildly successful at it.

Again, in what way were Microraptor and Caudipteryx going in the "same
direction" as Brachiosaurus and Triceratops rather than in the "same
direction" as Archaeopteryx and Jehlornis?



                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
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