Posted by:
RSNewton
at Sun Aug 10 11:25:10 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by RSNewton ]
Looking at the weighted MP tree of Utiger et al. (fig. 3), New World Elaphe and other Lampropeltine species such as Lampropeltis ruthveni and Pituophis melanoleucus are nested deeply within Old World Elaphe. Some of the Old World Elaphe species (e.g. E. longissima, E. taeniurus, E. situla, E. mandarina) are basal to New World Elaphe and the group containing E. carinata, E. climacophora, E. sauromates and E. quatuorlineata. This tree contradicts the assumption that Old World Elaphe and New World Elaphe form a polyphyletic group. It shows that Elaphe is in fact paraphyletic. The ideological intolerance of paraphyly among Hennigian taxonomists is the real reason for their attempt to splinter Elaphe. The oft-repeated proclamation that Elaphe is an artificial or polyphyletic group is in reality a red herring.
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- Pantherophis, a preliminary review - RSNewton, Tue Aug 5 00:29:14 2003
- RE: Pantherophis, a preliminary review - jfirneno, Tue Aug 5 19:28:42 2003
- RE: Pantherophis, a preliminary review - Terry Cox, Wed Aug 6 11:34:07 2003
- RE: Pantherophis, a preliminary review - patricia sherman, Wed Aug 6 15:20:03 2003
- RE: Pantherophis, a preliminary review - WW, Thu Aug 7 03:19:24 2003
- RE: Pantherophis, a preliminary review - Matt Campbell, Thu Aug 7 11:17:37 2003
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RE: Pantherophis, a preliminary review - RSNewton, Sun Aug 10 11:25:10 2003