Maxson would be the last person on earth to tell anyone, including you, that her data has "fallen by the wayside for better, more modern techniques." It is true that immunological techniques are no longer used widely today, because of the ease with which DNA can be sequenced, but the molecule that Maxson and Wilson were working with, namely serum albumin, is highly informative, because it is not constrained by natural selection. Amino acid substitutions within this molecule are therefore due purely to chance, and it is therefore an excellent molecule for estimating relative lineage divergence times. Systematists have rarely found a better molecular characters with which to work. Even mtDNA mutations are not completely neutral as it is still very much functional, unlike serum albumin.

Secondly, only those who are dogmatic, for example the cladists, would openly ignore criticism and/or opposing evidence. There is no shortage of evidence opposing the placement of Hyla chrysoscelis as the most basal species in Moriarty and Cannatella's tree, and there is no shortage of criticism on the cladists' "destructive, impractical and scientifically untenable" classifications (Mayr and Ashlock 1991).

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]