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

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Jura wrote:

> So these papers you mention, do they refer to annelids now as 
> ?non-pogonophoran annelids??

Yes.  They sure do.  Or they use similar PN terms (e.g., non-vestimentiferan 
pogonophorans, non-clitellate polychaetes, non-siboglinid annelids, etc).

For some relevant references, check out:

http://www.annelida.net/phylum-state.html

> 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.

Yes, but even with insects, there is no universal agreement on (1) exactly 
how many orders there should be; or (2) the 'rank' of several of these 
orders.  When I took a class in entomology as an undergrad I remember that 
certain entomologists preferred to give each of the apterygote orders 
(primitively wingless hexapods, such as Collembola, Diplura, etc) their own 
class, each 'equivalent' in rank to class Insecta.  Thankfully, PN 
eliminates the need for such unproductive arguments over 'rank'.

More recently, there is disagreement over whether the insect group 
Dictyoptera should be split into three orders (Isoptera, Blattaria, 
Mantodea), or treated as one order with three suborders.

The point of this foray into entomology is that the rank-based 
classification of insects is not as simple or stable as you make it seem.  
The concept of order is entirely arbitrary.

> Cetacea never evolved from Mammalia. It evolved within Mammalia.

There's no difference.

Cheers

Tim