Re: Greg Paul is right (again); or "Archie's not a birdy"

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

On Wed, July 27, 2011 6:11 pm, Mike Taylor wrote:
> On 27 July 2011 22:01, Scott Hartman <skeletaldrawing@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 3:55 PM, Augusto Haro <augustoharo@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>> *Aves* is (or should be) restricted to the crown.
>>>>
>>> Isn't that pre-occupied by Neornithes?
>>>
>>
>> Pretty sure Aves has precedent...
>
> When it comes to phylogenetic (as opposed to rank-based) nomenclature,
> no name has priority over any synonym, and no definition has priority
> over any homonym.  That is because priority starts only when the
> PhyloCode is "implemented", which as we all know will be on January 1,
> 200n, for some value of n >= 12.  Until that great and glorious day,
> ALL phylogenetic names and clades are up for grabs, to be used as each
> author sees fit.

Actually, no. This ONLY applies if and when the PhyloCode becomes *THE*
accepted authority for governing phylogenetic taxonomy. Not all people who
use phylogenetic taxonomy accept its rules and governance, and thus there
are many out there who do accept already present published dates as the
precedence-stetting ones.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA