One origin? (viral evolution)

[Panza, Robin]

>>>>From: Curtis Clark [mailto:jcclark at CSUPOMONA.EDU]
If a mammalian virus is a piece of mammalian DNA gone astray, it is a
eukaryote, and in fact it is a mammal. <<<<

A couple of mammalian genes does not a mammal make!  I doubt any mammalian
virus has mammaries, or hair, or auditory ossicles, or any of the characters
by which one defines a mammal.  By your reasoning, HIV, a human virus, is a
human being!  All the many kinds of virus that infect humans are also
humans.  Pray, tell, how does one diagnose Homo sapiens?

Robin K Panza                         panzar at carnegiemuseums.org
Collection Manager, Section of Birds          ph:  412-622-3255
Carnegie Museum of Natural History       fax: 412-622-8837
4400 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh  PA  15213-4008  USA