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

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Mike Keesey wrote:

> But, on another note, if we understand "Mirandornithes" to *mean* "the 
> flamingo-grebe clade", >then the recognition that other groups also belong 
> should not invalidate it.

True.  But Sangster clearly *intended* for Mirandornithes to be limited to 
grebes and flamingoes.  The clade was erected solely to emphasise the 
(perceived) unique relationship between the two.

To my way of thinking (and I could be wrong here), the only way to guarantee 
that Mirandornithes can *only* include grebes and flamingoes is to have 
multiple external specifiers drawn from every neognath 'order' outside of 
Podicipediformes and Phoenicopteriformes.

One way to avoid Mirandornithes becoming a heterodefinitional synonym of 
Neoaves would be to amend the definition to include one neoavian taxon as an 
external specifier (_Passer_ would work).  Mirandornithes might include 
several bird 'orders' (including grebes and flamingoes), but it would never 
swallow up the entire Neoaves.

Cheers

Tim

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