Evolutionary taxonomy

From Palaeos

Classification | Evolutionary Taxonomy | Linnaean Taxonomy | Nomenclature | Taxonomic inertia

Traditional taxonomy has admitted numerous taxa that are cladistically illegitimate, because they exclude some of the descendants of the ancestors of their members. Such traditional taxa as Pisces, Reptilia, etc. are cladistically illegitimate, because legged vertebrates are descended from fish and birds from reptiles. "Evolutionary taxonomy" is essentially traditional taxonomy with evolution taken into account.

For the most part, hierarchy-based taxonomy has been very successful, but one-celled organisms often practice lateral gene transfer, and sometimes even lateral genome transfer (endosymbiosis), which cause difficulty for such taxonomies. In such cases, the "proper" taxonomies are those of genes or sets of genes, though as explained above, some genes serve as a reasonable proxy for the whole organism.