Taxacom: strict cladists war against paraphyletic taxa

Fri Dec 12 07:37:45 CST 2025

To put it simply: the denial of paraphyly is the denial of history.  

-Paul

On Fri, 12 Dec 2025 15:34:19 +0200
Mikhail Daneliya via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

> Hei Marko,
> 
> Your idea indeed came to minds of some researchers, but never
> materialised.
> 
> Sometimes genera are really close to each other, and one may neglect
> that difference to merge. But if the difference is so large, merging
> would indeed be unnatural. For certain mindset it may seem like
> solving problems, but to a specialist it looks like no problems at
> all. On the contrary, if one ends up creating 1000 species of
> Gammarus looking more different than a sawfly and an ant, this will
> be a taxonomic disaster. I would not do that. I would rather accept
> things as they are, rather than putting facts into a frame of a dogma.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Mikhail
> 
> On Fri, 12 Dec 2025, 14:53 Marko Mutanen, <Marko.Mutanen at oulu.fi>
> wrote:
> 
> > Hi Mikhail,
> >
> > This would not be an ideal solution. A much better approach would
> > be to merge all the Baikal taxa with Gammarus. In general, I
> > believe this would be the preferable outcome, although exceptions
> > may certainly occur. A comparable situation arose when several
> > genera of Nematinae (Tenthredinidae sawflies) were merged into the
> > large genus Euura. The change was not universally welcomed, but the
> > only real alternative - splitting them into numerous small genera -
> > would have been a far worse option, especially since the species
> > all look more or less the same.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Marko
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at lists.ku.edu> On Behalf Of Mikhail
> > Daneliya via Taxacom
> > Sent: perjantai 12. joulukuuta 2025 14.04
> > To: taxacom at lists.ku.edu
> > Subject: Re: Taxacom: strict cladists war against paraphyletic taxa
> >
> > I have been working with amphipod crustaceans, and there is a
> > freshwater genus Gammarus. Everyone probably knows it. Its 200+
> > species look very similar. It is hard to doubt they belong to the
> > same genus. Suddenly DNA phylogenetics, and have done too,
> > discovers that the Lake Baikal radiation of amphipods - numerous
> > endemic families, genera and species of very bizarre looking
> > creatures - clearly nests within Gammarus. Would anyone dare to
> > desintegrate Gammarus because of its paraphaly? This looks like the
> > way evolution goes.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Mikhail Daneliya
> >
> > On Fri, 12 Dec 2025, 01:42 Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom, <  
> > taxacom at lists.ku.edu>  
> > wrote:
> >  
> > > Hi All,
> > >      The war of strict cladists against paraphyletic taxa has been
> > > going on for over 50 years.  My question is how successful that
> > > war has been in regarding formal paraphyletic taxa as "unnatural"
> > > and to be  
> > eliminated.  
> > >  Or as noted below, does strict cladism actually promote
> > > "disastrous nomenclatural practices"?
> > >                         -------------Ken Kinman
> > > -------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Paraphyly again defended (and strict cladism promotes "disastrous
> > > nomenclatural practices) Kenneth Kinman kinman at
> > > hotmail.com<mailto:taxacom%40mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > > ?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BTaxacom%5D%20Paraphyly%20again%20defended%20%28and
> > > %20strict%20cladism%20promotes%0A%20%22disastrous%20nomenclatural%20pr
> > > actices%29&In-Reply-To=%3CCY4PR11MB1480D1096C914E58FD056F53C1240%
> > > 40CY4PR11MB1480.namprd11.prod.outlook.com%3E>  
> > > Mon Apr 15 20:20:45 CDT 2019
> > >
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> > > strict  
> > cladism  
> > > promotes "disastrous nomenclatural practices)<
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> > > [ thread ]<
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> > > [ subject ]<
> > > https://lists.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom/2019-April/subject.html#132970>
> > > [ author ]<
> > > https://lists.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom/2019-April/author.html#132970>
> > >
> > > ________________________________
> > >
> > > Hi All,
> > >       I just ran across this 2016 paper.  Yet another publication
> > > defending the reality and need for paraphyletic taxa (for a
> > > variety of reasons), and it labels strict cladism as promoting
> > > "disastrous nomenclatural practices":
> > >
> > > https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.microbiologyresearch.org%2Fdocserver%2Ffulltext%2Fijsem%2F66%2F12%2F49&data%7C02%7Ctaxacom%40lists.ku.edu%7C46cd2f1bfc2746c4c8ac08de3983a389%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C639011434717867356%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C60000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=BpDapwy22rHx%2Fr01xwwxwCOqBoUnEjxovhcPHtp1Mho%3D&reserved=0
> > > 24_ijsem001474.pdf?expires55377331&id=id&accname=guest&checksumS7
> > > 594F4A96BABC3F0564A74650291D5
> > >
> > > Abstract:
> > > "Yeast systematics has wholeheartedly embraced the phylogenetic
> > > approach. Central to this has been the unspoken convention that
> > > taxa at all ranks be strictly monophyletic. This can result in a
> > > proliferation of small genera and instances of nomenclatural
> > > instability, counter to the expected benefit of phylogenetic
> > > systematics. But the literature abounds with examples, at all
> > > taxonomic levels, where paraphyly is a reality that can no longer
> > > be ignored. The very concepts of Bacteria or Archaea, under the
> > > constraint of monophyly, are in peril. It is therefore desirable
> > > to effect a shift in practices that will recognize  
> > the existence of paraphyletic taxa."  
> > >
> > > Another Quote from the articles:
> > > "Taxonomy sits at an ill-defined confluence of science, craft,
> > > ontology and the law. Conscientious systematists aim at making
> > > sense of the living world by organizing species into categories
> > > that are meaningful not only to themselves, but also to other
> > > biologists and the rest of humanity. The last decades have seen
> > > undue emphasis placed on creating categories that reflect an
> > > erroneous model of cladogenesis, one that is strictly dichotomous
> > > and symmetrical. A large proportion of taxa arise not by fission
> > > of an ancestral progenitor, but by a budding process that leaves
> > > the progenitor enriched by the presence of its offspring. The
> > > retention of cohesive parent taxa under a single designation, at
> > > the same rank as progeny  
> > taxa, has the potential to prevent disastrous nomenclatural
> > practices."  
> > >
> > >                 ------------------------Ken Kinman
> > >
> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Taxacom Mailing List
> > >
> > > Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years,
> > > 1987-2025.
> > >
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> > >
> > >  
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> > Taxacom Mailing List
> >
> > Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years, 1987-2025.
> >
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> >  
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> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for 38 years, 1987-2025.
> 
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-- 
Paul J. Morris
Biodiversity Informatics Manager
Museum of Comparative Zo?logy, Harvard University
mole at morris.net  AA3SD  PGP public key available