Re: Correction and Question

[chris brochu <cbrochu@fmnh.org>]

Jerry D. Harris wrote:

>         A quick question:  since most of the croc workers out there are
> using "Crocodylia" instead of "Crocodilia," I assume the former is correct,
> but it only seems to be in the last few years that the former took
> precedence over the latter spelling.  What's the story behind the change?
> 

A quick answer:  both spellings have been used over the past two
centuries, and neither was really the "correct" one - it all depended on
who you worked with.  We're settling on "Crocodylia" because the first
phylogenetic definition of the group (by Jim Clark in 1986) used that
spelling.


chris



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Christopher A. Brochu
Department of Geology
Field Museum of Natural History
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