Re: something's wrong here: Qianosuchus phylogeny

[David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 2:08 AM

> Just a minor quibble.  _Triassolestes_ is a fossil dragonfly (Tillyard,
> 1918), _Trialestes_ is the fossil crocodylomorph (Bonaparte, 1982 - to
> replace _Triassolestes_ Reig, 1963).

(Of course, the right thing to do would have been to make up 
"Triadolestes"... <whine>)

> (a) "Does this make sense?" is a question that too often is answered by
> someone who believes that there own opinions have priority over analysis 
> of
> the data.  This is also called "hand-waving".

Often we simply don't know what makes sense. Often the analysis can tell us 
what makes sense, rather than vice versa.

> (b) Evolution does not *always* work in tiny increments.  Here's an 
> example
> of one hypothesis to the contrary...

An extreme and more obvious case are the turtles: the shoulder girdle is 
either outside or inside the ribcage, there can't be any increments (in 
amniotes, whose ribs are never as short as a salamander's).