Re: Defining Ornithischia 2

["T. Michael Keesey" <keesey@gmail.com>]

On 10/3/07, Anthony Docimo <keenir@hotmail.com> wrote:
> so....we might call it a clade, until such time as there's evidence casting 
> doubt on that status....and then we'd call it a taxon rather than a clade
>
> did I get it right?

More or less. We could actually call it a taxon in either case, since
a clade is a type of taxon.

A taxon is a set of organisms. A clade is a taxon which consists of an
ancestor and all of its descendants (i.e., a monophyletic taxon). A
taxon name is a word or sequence of words that signifies a taxon. A
definition is a formula that describes how to obtain a taxon. A
definition may be associated with a taxon name under a taxonomic code
(e.g., ICZN [which uses type/rank-based definitions], PhyloCode [which
uses phylogenetic definitions]). A composition list is a list of
subtaxa which are subsets of a taxon and/or specimens or names which
represent organisms that are members of the taxon.

More terminology here: http://www.ohiou.edu/phylocode/glossary.html
-- 
Mike Keesey