Comment on Subsets are a thing in biology as well.
dogsoahC@lemm.ee 1 week agoWhat I’m getting at is taxonomy. A valid taxon has to include all descendents of the crown group. That means that for monkeys to constitute a valid taxon, apes must be included. Same reason why birds are technically dinosaurs.
OpenStars@discuss.online 1 week ago
A monophyletic clade must include all descendants. A taxonomic group itself can hold anything.
Viruses can also integrate DNA into cells and it sticks there forever sometimes, thus bypassing the tree entirely (making it a network, i.e. no longer acyclic thus no longer a tree).
There is a lot of weirdness in the world, stranger than people have dreamed.:-P
dogsoahC@lemm.ee 1 week ago
Fair enough. I just belong to the people who require a valid taxon to be monophyletic. (Btw., “clade” already implies monophyleti…city? Monophyleticness?)
Also, shut up about viruses, they make a mess of everything and are beautifully chaotic and I hate them and I love them. xD
OpenStars@discuss.online 6 days ago
I will never shut up about viruses - they are aliens on earth, or like something I dunno but they are so fucking cool!
viruses