[Taxacom] Our Monkey Ancestors

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 10:37 PM 1/13/2010, Stephen Thorpe wrote:
>Well, it is all just semantics.

I think we are missing the point here.  All these names being bandied about 
are VERNACULAR names, not scientific names.  Formal biological nomenclature 
developed precisely to avoid these sorts of inane arguments.  If we say, 
"Our ancestors were monkeys" we are adrift in the Sea of Confusion and 
Obfuscation.  But if we say, "Our ancestors were members of Order Primata," 
we have at least made landfall in the Archipelago of Muck and Mire.


Tom Lammers

Associate Professor
Curator of the Neil A. Harriman Herbarium
Department of Biology and Microbiology

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002

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