Re: English names

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Posted by Josiah on June 16, 2002 at 12:33:19:

In Reply to: English names posted by BIC on June 14, 2002 at 10:11:08:

>As far as species concepts are concerned, that
>is largely a non-issue. If evidence is provided
>that indicates a lineage then that lineage
>should be named. It is important to recognize
>that English names merely follow the science and
>in no way constitute hypotheses about lineages.
>The Latin names are the hypotheses, the English
>names are labels for convenient (hopefully)
>communication.

A lineage should be named as what, a species or subspecies? The utilized species concept determines this, so it does matter. Take your favorite study and the data provided, utilize the three most widely used species concepts (BSC, PSC, and ESC), and in most cases you'll get two or three different answers regarding taxonomy. An observed "lineage" in many phylogeography studies does NOT necessarily equal a "species" and thus should NOT be named as such. I've seen numerous cases where lineages (clades) were formed because of small sample sizes, samples originating far from each other, and population structure. Species concepts create the hypotheses, not scientific and common names.

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: >As far as species concepts are concerned, that : >is largely a non-issue. If evidence is provided : >that indicates a lineage then that lineage : >should be named. It is important to recognize : >that English names merely follow the science and : >in no way constitute hypotheses about lineages. : >The Latin names are the hypotheses, the English : >names are labels for convenient (hopefully) : >communication. : A lineage should be named as what, a species or subspecies? The utilized species concept determines this, so it does matter. Take your favorite study and the data provided, utilize the three most widely used species concepts (BSC, PSC, and ESC), and in most cases you'll get two or three different answers regarding taxonomy. An observed "lineage" in many phylogeography studies does NOT necessarily equal a "species" and thus should NOT be named as such. I've seen numerous cases where lineages (clades) were formed because of small sample sizes, samples originating far from each other, and population structure. Species concepts create the hypotheses, not scientific and common names. : Jo

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