Taxacom: Taxonomy vs. Cladonomy (was: New subclass (or class or phylum) of early land plants intermediate between bryophytes and tracheophytes)

Mon Apr 4 15:23:28 CDT 2022

Hi Tony,
         I agree that listing Eophytidae as a subclass is a good idea.  However, not because it would be consistent with Chase and Reveal's 2009 classification (which I never liked).  Chase and Reveal's abstract reads in part: "A formal classification of the land plants that is compatible with the APG III classification is proposed. Previous classifications inflated taxonomic ranks, particularly of the angiosperms. If the major clades of green algae are recognized as classes, then all land plants, the embryophytes, should be included in a single class, here recognized as Equisitopsida."
        That argument that all embryophytes should be only recognized as a Class makes little sense unless you can't stand paraphyletic taxa.  And instead of inflated taxonomic ranks, you either end up with an inflated number of subranks or long lists of subordinate taxa that show little or no structure, such as Chase and Reveal's list of 16 Subclasses of Class "Equisitopsida" (which is a poor name for all embryophytes and thus rarely used for such a major taxon).
        Therefore they would see Ruggerio et al.'s (2015) taxonomic ranks as inflated, including Superclass “Angiospermae”.  That is better than ranking it as a Subclass, but I think even Superclass rank is actually under inflated, and prefer to recognise it as a Phylum (Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta).  Phylum rank is fitting for such an important taxon and one that large (about 300,000 speices).
       Strict cladists have been making a mess of many classifications for decades now with their unstable "cladifications" (I think was Ernst Mayr that coined the term cladification).  R.K. Brummitt (2014) noted, they practice "Cladonomy" instead of Taxonomy:  https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbioone.org%2Fjournals%2Fannals-of-the-missouri-botanical-garden%2Fvolume-100%2Fissue-1-2%2F2012089%2FTaxonomy-Versus-Cladonomy-in-the-Dicot-Families1%2F10.3417%2F2012089.short&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cb867df27084e42e0c92b08da16790159%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637847006507760721%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=XXc6pM2qupsBMLM7RpKCHUHFM8baCZQRn5X8OyRmOi8%3D&reserved=0
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Taxonomy Versus Cladonomy in the Dicot Families1<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbioone.org%2Fjournals%2Fannals-of-the-missouri-botanical-garden%2Fvolume-100%2Fissue-1-2%2F2012089%2FTaxonomy-Versus-Cladonomy-in-the-Dicot-Families1%2F10.3417%2F2012089.short&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cb867df27084e42e0c92b08da16790159%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637847006507760721%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=XXc6pM2qupsBMLM7RpKCHUHFM8baCZQRn5X8OyRmOi8%3D&reserved=0>
The theoretical basis for cladistic classification into monophyletic (holophyletic) ranked taxa is fatally flawed and is promoting bad taxonomy. Biological classification that takes account of evolutionary history may be based on two main factors—lines of descent and extent of divergence represented by morphological and other characters. In taxonomy a balance must be found between lines of ...
bioone.org

                  --------------Ken Kinman

________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> on behalf of Tony Rees via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
Sent: Saturday, April 2, 2022 9:13 PM
To: taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Subject: Taxacom: New subclass (or class or phylum) of early land plants intermediate between bryophytes and tracheophytes

Dear Taxacomers,

The following paper came to my notice this morning:
Dianne Edwards et al., 2021 (or 2022?): "Piecing together the eophytes – a
new group of ancient plants containing cryptospores". New Phytologist 233:
1440-1455, doi: 10.1111/nph.17703

It is not often that a completely new plant group is described, although
its existence had been suspected for some time as the producers of
"crytospores", apparently land-produced spores that did not belong to
either bryophytes or other known land plants. Edwards et al. erect their
new group "Eophytidae" at subclass level, so as to be consistent with the
treatment of Chase & Reveal, 2009 in which groups such as bryophytes,
liverworts, etc. are recognised only at subclass level, although in other
treatments (for example Ruggiero et al., 2015) such groups are recognised
as phyla (=Divisions im botanical-speak).

Just mentioning this since in the general world of biodiversity I see it as
pretty significant... you can find a commentary on the Edwards et al.
paper, written by Alexandru Tomescu, also in New Phytologist at
https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1111%2Fnph.17876&data=04%7C01%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7Cb867df27084e42e0c92b08da16790159%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637847006507760721%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=ZAqyT86jE9QwlAfW%2BQzlNalXoTXiAWco6ED740nCKe0%3D&reserved=0, entitled: "Mysteries of the
bryophyte–tracheophyte transition revealed: enter the eophytes".

Regards to all - Tony

Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
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