Prof. Werner, I'd think with your pedigree you would know that you don't have to refer Underwoodisaurus milii to Nephrurus. I must admit I haven't read all the papers you mention but from your outline and my understanding of current views in systematics and phylogeny you want genera to be monophyletic. If U. milii were added to Nephrurus then it would be biphyletic. That indicates to me that milii should be kept in Underwoodisaurus.
If scientists don't agree with a paper then they don't accept itÂ’s conclusions and if enough people don't agree with a paper then the conclusions are rejected. I believe that should be the case here. Best, Chuck --- yehudah werner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello, > John Rudge is right that Underwoodisaurus milii > now is Nephrurus milii. But this is so only because > the last publication is what counts, not because it > is imposed by the evidence. John considers, and > probably rightly, that the strongest evidence is the > paper by Melville et al. 2004. But this paper shows > "N. milii" to be the sister group of a clade of 4 > Nephrurus species, not within that clade. It could > retain its separate genus name, Underwoodisaurus > Wermuth. The authors only say that given that the > genus does no more exist (this they don't say > expressly but imply) the species belongs not with > Phyllurus as earlier thought (Kluge, Russell) but > with Nephrurus. Fine, but why not retain (or revive) > Underwoodisaurus, which lacks the distinctive > Nephrurus tail, commemorating the deserving gecko > researcher Garth Underwood and the deserving gecko > author Heinz Wermuth ? > Yehudah > > > Yehudah L. Werner > Professor Emeritus of Zoology > Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology > The Hebrew University of Jerusalem > 91904 Jerusalem, Israel > Tel. 972-2-6585874 (direct) > Fax 972-2-6584741 (departmental office) > e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Home tel./fax 972-2-5665576 > > --------------------------------- > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. Charles & Barbara Powell American Dendrobatid Group www.hylaweb.com/frogday _______________________________________________ Global Gecko Association http://www.gekkota.com Classifieds http://www.gekkota.com/cgi-gekkota/classifieds.cgi gecko mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gekkota.com/mailman/listinfo/gecko
