Re: Perfect Organisms

From: Lewandjim at aol.com on 2000.05.10 at 21:41:53(4562) In a message dated 05/09/2000 8:10:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time, StellrJ@aol.com writes: << Hmmm...the closest thing I can think of to this in actual practice is the +More breed standard for purebred animals. Of course, no living Havana Brown cat ever matches perfectly the breed standard; it is judged by how closely it approaches that standard. The question is, does anything like this occur in talking of species? What I mean is, given the description of, say, Philodendron bipinnatifidum, do we compare a given specimen of that species to the decription, and judge how closely it approaches the "standard"? >> And with that question you reveal what few people realize - a species is not a real entity but a STANDARD based upon the formal types designated at the time the name was published. It can get complicated because exceptions can occur (e.g., if the original types become "lost" over time) but a species is ONLY the holotype and the paratypes. From that time forward, specimens are compared to those types and an arbitrary decision is made as to which named species, if any, an "unknown" belongs to. Variations are legion so "best guesses" are all that is possible! Jim Langhammer

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