Monotremes (was RE: The PhyloCode will not address the naming of species (Was The Papers That Ate Cincinnati))

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Anthony Docimo
>
> >> >Dinosauria has been everything from a suborder (original designation)
> >> >to a class. But why would the mere fact that his sort of thing goes on
> >> >a lot excuse it?
> >>
> >>   Why would the mere fact that it goes on, condemn it?
> >
> >It doesn't. What condemns it is that it's meaningless.
>
> if you say "monotreme"/"monotrema", I know you're talking about a mammal
> that lays eggs rather than having live birth.

But only from the parochial view of the Neogene. We honestly don't know which 
of the many diverse Mesozoic and Paleogene extinct
lineages of mammals (allotheres, eutriconodonts, docodonts, etc., etc.) were 
egg-laying mammals but not monotremes (i.e., not part
of Monotremata).

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
        Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
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