Re: Family Ties

[Stanley Friesen <sarima@ix.netcom.com>]

At 05:36 PM 5/17/97 -0400, Jack Frost wrote:
> but these stuffy lamebrained Ivy League types we have classifying 
>these animals don't know ... yet that they need to classify the said 
>animals by their CREST SHAPE.

I disagree most strenuously.

The crests are almost certainly species-specific display features.  This
means that they are prone to rapid, divergent, episodic evolution.  This
makes them extremely *poor* taxonomic characters.  They simply change too
fast, and too often, to be useful for much beyond recognizing species, and
sometimes genera.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima@ix.netcom.com
                                          sfriesen@netlock.com