RE: Kileskus and Proceratosauridae

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

Daid Marjanovic wrote (quoting me):

<<Lately, the term "clade" has been coopted to refer to any 
structure of a tree that can be conceived without regard to
 a specific ancestor-descendant relationship.>>

<Where?>

  Unfortunately, the idea that a "clade" is the general product of a cladistic 
analysis, or is any grouping to be found on a tree, is common at least in the 
lay media.  I do not have a specific citation.  I do not aver that this is an 
authentic use of the term, but that it has been used as such.  This is, again, 
replicated in the lay media, who did not themselves make this out of whole 
cloth.  As far back as at beginning of the use of cladistics in the discussion 
on this very mailing list, at least, the term "clade" was being used as a form 
of "uppity" expression equivalent to "group."  A "paraphyletic clade" and a 
"paraphyletic group" and a "paraphyletic grade" were essentially the same 
things, depending on who was using them.

  As a special note, even our own Mike Keesey has used the term, which I've dug 
up here: http://dml.cmnh.org/2001Dec/msg00054.html

  I've also become somewhat confused, as I was aware that the recent shift for 
absolute definitive understanding to the term "clade" is abruptly recent; I am 
not familiar with a concrete definition for "clade" in many of at introductory 
texts on the matter that I've read, although I've not read some of the more 
recent ones -- I was more interested in the practice of the machinery than its 
terminology, so I'm a little behind on that; it interested others more than it 
did me, and I've since had a shift on my priorities than to read the principle 
tomes on the subject.  I don't even have cladistic software anymore.

  I've asked David in private, although I guess it bears repeating here:

  What was the original useage of the term "clade?" I would follow that up with 
who defined the term, and where it was defined? These things would be 
interesting from an historical point.

Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden

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