cladistic taxonomy

["Ken Kinman" <kinman@hotmail.com>]

Mike,
    I guess Eureptilia would at least be better than Reptilia.  While on 
that subject, I wonder how you can easily explain to non-cladists the 
difference between node-based and stem-based definitions, and that although 
each are given different names in the name of precision, they can end up 
having essentially the same contents (i.e. include the same taxa).
    I wonder if Cetartiodactyla and Eparctocyona (the latter slightly more 
inclusive?) is an example of this kind of hair-splitting precision or not.  
Might be an interesting case to look into.
                  -------Ken Kinman
P.S.  I am certainly not alone in seeing all this precision and phylocoding 
as making nomenclature and classification increasingly difficult to 
comprehend (much as our legal system is).  Its very hard not to be 
pessimistic about where such trends will lead us.
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