Re: Politically Correct Terminology (Was: parthenogenetically derived reptile offspring)

[Mike Taylor <mike@indexdata.com>]

Dawid Mazurek writes:
 >> basalness is a relative property
 > 
 > So is primitiveness, for example - Saturnalia is morphologically a
 > primitive taxon (as a sauropodomorf), but still an advanced
 > (morfologically) taxon (as a sauropsid, amniote, whatever...).

You're right -- I should have been more explicit.  Basalness is
relative to a clade that excludes the taxon in question; whereas
primitiveness (in the sense of few character-state transitions from a
MRCA) is relative to an including clade.  So you can call _Jobaria_ a
primitive Neosauropod, but it doesn't make so much sense to call it a
basal Neosauropod (though we go right ahead and do it anyway).

 _/|_    ___________________________________________________________________
/o ) \/  Mike Taylor    <mike@indexdata.com>    http://www.miketaylor.org.uk
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