RE: Sauropodz r kewl WAS: silly conversation on 2012 US presidential race

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

By the way: Pachydermata, not Pachyderma.

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 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of Anthony Docimo
> Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 3:16 PM
> To: martyniuk@gmail.com
> Cc: schenck.rob@gmail.com; dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: RE: Sauropodz r kewl WAS: silly conversation on 2012 
> US presidential race
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------
> > Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:17:06 -0400
> > Subject: Re: Sauropodz r kewl WAS: silly conversation on 2012 US 
> > presidential race
> > From: martyniuk@gmail.com
> > To: keenir@hotmail.com
> > CC: schenck.rob@gmail.com; dinosaur@usc.edu
> >
> > Are those supposed to be analogous examples?
> 
>  
> 
>  No.  Pachyderma was my aknowledging that Linnean groups can 
> and have been taken apart and redistributed.
> 
>  
> 
> > Pachyderma was
> > paraphyletic: it grouped together animals which looked similar but 
> > were not close relatives. Tuatara are kept separate because they
> > *have* no close living relatives.
> 
>  
> 
>  Which is my point.
> 
>  
> 
> I was countering the statements of what sounded like 
> "distinctness can't be measured, at least not thus far", with 
> examples of very distinct species.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> > Would you rather we create a
> > pachyderm-like paraphyletic grouping of say, Tuatara+Iquana 
> based on 
> > superficial similarity?
> >
> > Matt
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 11:01 AM, Anthony Docimo 
> <keenir@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > ----------------------------------------
> > >> Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:53:47 -0400
> > >> From: schenck.rob@gmail.com
> > >> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> > >> Subject: Re: Sauropodz r kewl WAS: silly conversation on 2012 US 
> > >> presidential race
> > >>
> > >> On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Anthony Docimo 
> <keenir@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > We've demolished groups such as Pachyderma, relocating 
> its members (rhinos, elephants, etc) to their true 
> relatives...and yet the tuatara, aardvark and pangolin are 
> set aside in their own groups with no near extant relatives.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > so, if there is no way to quantify it, why do we keep 
> them separate?