Re: Sarcosuchus & Dumbing things down

[chris brochu <christopher-brochu@uiowa.edu>]

>     The broader term "crocodylian" should apply to members of Crocodylia,
>but we still are faced with two different concepts of what Crocodylia
>includes.  The traditional concept is Crocodylia sensu lato, used by Alfred
>Romer, Robert Carroll, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and lots of other
>references, and relatively recently in Mike Benton's 1997 classification.
>Seems to me the cladistic alternative of Crocodylia "sensu stricto" might
>not be widely used outside of cladistic circles.

If one doesn't read the peer-reviewed literature, one could certainly draw
this conclusion.  But even the Science paper on Sarcosuchus used
"crocodyliform" - so despite what dictionaries and textbooks written by
outspoken critics of phylogenetic nomenclature (or older texts written
before the concept arose, which is true for both Romer and Carroll), it is
widely used.


chris

------------------------
Christopher A. Brochu
Assistant Professor
Department of Geoscience
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242

christopher-brochu@uiowa.edu
319-353-1808 phone
319-335-1821 fax