types and names

[Chris J. Durden]

Ron,
    The name is fixed to a type specimen. This is the "golden spike" for 
future reference. Anything considered to be conspecific with that type 
specimen must bear its name.
    The parts of the fossil record that I am familiar with seem to conform 
to the principle of punctuated equilibria. A certain configuration of 
habitat suits a species which prospers in it. This is the niche. Habitats 
are poly/multi-dimensional. All the many dimensions of a niche will not 
change in the same direction in time - it is most unlikely, there are too 
many dimensions. So the species does not change much in time - it becomes 
commoner, then it becomes rarer. The lineage to which a species belongs, 
survives by populating a new niche as a fortuitous new combination of 
characters that are suited to populate a different niche. A robust lineage 
has enough genetic variation to be able to support this sweepstakes 
existence. A weak lineage fails and goes extinct. We see this today with 
introductions of "weed" between continents - these are robust. We see this 
today with rare, endangered and extinct species - these are from weak 
lineages.
    Subspecies are the tiles of fine adjustment of a species mosaic to the 
habitat tiles of a niche mosaic. It is from some of the minor tiles that 
the opportunist stock will come that is capable of populating a new open 
niche. That is why we are often obliged to raise subspecies to full species 
when we get around to gathering more data about them and testing their 
conspecificity.
    But you knew all this, I am sure.
...............Chris Durden

At 03:54 PM 4/22/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>I hope I communicate this properly. A complaint I have long had is that our
>defining of organisms (by what ever mode) is wrong before we ever start
>because we are wanting to "fix" a name (identity) to a living thing that
>will eventually evolve to have nothing to do with what it was "fixed" as.
>Regardless of the type of names used - it is absolutely impossible to have
>stability (stagnation) with evolving things - including language itself.



 
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