Benton and Kinman (long)

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

HP Ken Kinman wrote:

> Furthermore, mesoeucrocodylians have long been a part of Crocodylia sensu
> lato (which is still widely used, and I think even Benton might still use
it).

He uses it for Crocodyliformes, and good old Eusuchia for the crown group.
>From his famous book (I'm surprised you don't own it):

>>
Subdivision Crurotarsi
 âFamily Ornithosuchidae
 Infradivision Crocodylotarsi
  âFamily Phytosauridae
  âFamily Stagonolepididae
  âFamily Rauisuchidae
  âFamily Poposauridae
  Superorder Crocodylomorpha
   âFamily Saltoposuchidae
   âFamily Sphenosuchidae
   Order Crocodylia
    âFamily Protosuchidae
    Division Mesoeucrocodylia
     âFamily Teleosauridae
     âFamily Metriorhynchidae
     Subdivision Metasuchia
      âFamily Notosuchidae
      âFamily Sebecidae
      Infradivision Neosuchia
       âFamily Goniopholididae
       Suborder Eusuchia
        Family Gavialidae
        Family Crocodylidae
        Family Alligatoridae
<<

Yes, the rank "division" has 3 meanings, one is below the infraclass, one
below the order, one below the subcohort (somewhere in Actinopterygii), and
there are super-, sub- and infradivisions when needed. Benton is totally
anti-Kinman in his use of IMHO excessive supplementary ranks -- well, either
he ranks every name he wants to include, or he drops all ranks, or he drops
all but a few ranks and the names that might carry them. HP Ken Kinman uses
the third solution, "cladists" the second, and Benton the first one. So
Gnathostomata is an infraphylum, Amniota is a series, Ornithodira is a
subdivision, and so on. This classification is "hidden" in an appendix. In
the text he uses only headlines like "8.4.4. Infraorder Pachycephalosauria"
and totally unranked cladograms.
        Benton seems to use ranks as an indication for how "big" a clade is.
This way they lose much of their traditional "meanings", as seen in the
examples below.

"The classification given below is a 'conservaive cladistic' scheme based
upon the cladograms described in this book. The hierarchical ranking
(indenting) of the group names gives an indication of the ranking of taxa in
the cladogram. There has been a trend recently to avoid naming the ranks of
taxa (e.g. 'Placodermi', 'Dipnoi'), but rank names are used here (e.g.
'Class Placodermi', 'Order Dipnoi') in order to provide a broad marker to
the relative positions of clades within the hierarchical scheme. Further,
there is a debate about the use of traditional group names, such as
Archosauria or Mammalia, whether they should be used in an inclusive sense
to indicate the clade that is closest to the original definition [sic] of
the name, of in an exclusive sense to refer to the crown-group clade only,
that is the minimal clade defined by the closest common ancestor of all
living forms. The former usage is employed here. Fishes, amphibians,
reptiles, birds, and mammals are tabulated separately in that order. As far
as possible, all groups named below are monophyletic, but a small number of
commonly used paraphyletic group names are given (marked *). All groups have
living members, unless they are marked â."

> And I believe Benton's 1997 book on Vertebrate Palaeontology has a
> classification in the back with Class Aves separate from Class Reptilia
(but
> with a "Kinman-like" marker for Aves within Reptilia)---I'm pretty sure
that
> was his book (anybody correct me if I'm wrong about that).

Some examples:

>>
1 CLASSIFICATION OF THE FISHES

Phylum Chordata
  [...]
  Subphylum Vertebrata (Craniata)
   *Class Agnatha
    Subclass Myxinoidea
    âSubclass Conodonta
    Subclass Petromyzontiformes
    âSubclass Anaspida
    âSubclass unnamed
      Order Thelodonti
      [...]
    Subclass unnamed
     âOrder Galeaspida
     âOrder Osteostraci
     Infraphylum Gnathostomata
      Class Chondrichthyes
<<

Basically he puts an infraphylum among orders and into a subclass. He
doesn't mark that subclass as paraphyletic because it isn't "commonly used"
IMHO.

>>
[two pages of Actinopterygii]
Subclass Sarcopterygii
 Infraclass Dipnoiformes
  Order Diabolepidida
  Order Dipnoi
 Infraclass Actinistia
 âInfraclass Rhipidistia
  Order Porolepiformes [unusual position]
  Order Rhizodontiformes
  Order Osteolepiformes
  Order Panderichthyida
  Superclass Tetrapoda

2 CLASSIFICATION OF THE AMPHIBIANS

Superclass Tetrapoda
 *Class Amphibia
  âFamily Elginerpetontidae
  [...]
  âFamily Baphetidae
  Subclass Batrachomorpha [ = stem-based Amphibia]
   [...]
   Order Temnospondyli
    âFamily Dendrerpetontidae
    [...]
    âFamily Amphibamidae
    Infraclass Lissamphibia
     [...]
  Subclass Reptiliomorpha
   âOrder Anthracosauria
   âOrder Seymouriamorpha
   âOrder Diadectomorpha
   Series Amniota

3 CLASSIFICATION OF THE REPTILES

Series Amniota
 *Class Reptilia
  Subclass Synapsida
   *Order Pelycosauria
    [...]
    Order Therapsida
     [...]
     Suborder Cynodontia
      âFamily Procynosuchidae
      [...]
      âFamily Tritheledontidae
      Class Mammalia (see below)
  âFamily Mesosauridae
  Subclass Anapsida
   [...]
  âFamily Captorhinidae
  âFamily Protothyrididae
  Subclass Diapsida
<<

>>
Infraorder Tetanurae
 âFamily Megalosauridae
 âFamily Allosauridae
 Division Maniraptora
  âFamily Dromaeosauridae
  Class Aves (see below)
  âFamily Oviraptoridae
  âSubdivision Arctometatarsalia
<<

>>
4 CLASSIFICATION OF THE BIRDS

Class Aves
 âFamily Archaeopterygidae
 Subclass Metornithes
  âFamily Alvarezsauridae
  Infraclass Ornithothoraces
   âFamily Iberomesornithidae
   âOrder Enantiornithes
   Supercohort Ornithurae
<<

>>
5 CLASSIFICATION OF THE MAMMALS

Class Mammalia
 â_Adelobasileus_
 âFamily Sinoconodontidae
 Subclass Mammaliaformes
  âFamily Morganucodontidae
  âFamily Kuehneotheriidae
  âFamily Dryolestidae
  Division Monotremata
   (?)âOrder Docodonta
   Infraclass Theriimorpha
    âOrder Triconodonta
    âOrder Symmetrodonta
    Superlegion Theriiformes
     âOrder Multituberculata
     Legion Theria
      Division Metatheria
       (?)âFamily Deltatheridiidae
       Subdivision Marsupialia
        Order Ameridelphia
       [...]
      Division Placentalia (Eutheria)
       Cohort Edentata
<<

And while I am at it (shortened):

Superorder Archonta
 Order Scandentia
 Mirorder Primatomorpha
  âFamily Purgatoriidae
  Order Dermoptera
  Order Primates
   âInfraorder Adapiformes
   Infraorder Lemuriformes
   Division Haplorhini
    Infraorder Tarsiiformes
    Suborder Anthropoidea
     Infraorder Platyrrhini
     Infraorder Catarrhini
      Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
       Family Cercopithecidae
      Superfamily Hominoidea
       Family Proconsulidae
       Family Hylobatidae
       Family Hominidae
        Subfamily Kenyapithecinae
        Subfamily Ponginae
        Subfamily Homininae
 Order Chiroptera

Sorry for the long post. :-]