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Date: | Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:18:44 -0500 |
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> A better question may be "If you have a group of genera which you deem
> sufficiently similar to warrent grouping them together in a less than
> family - oriented manner, how do you decide whether to call the
> resulting taxa a "tribe" (a term very seldom used in molluscan taxonomy,
> for some reason), or a "sub-family"?? Is there any hard and fast
> difference between the two taxonomic categories, other than that the
> "tribe " is deemed to be a slightly more cohesive or tighter grouping
> than that of "sub-family"?
My impression and usage is to use a subfamily first and then a tribe. I.e., if a family has well-marked divisions, they would be subfamilies. If the family has well-marked divisions that have well-marked divisions, then there would be subfamiles and tribes.
Another component is historical. If a group has had a lot of names applied to it that have received a lot of use, it may be most practical to continue to recognize the names at some taxonomic level. E.g., in the unionoids, different workers have recognized the Lampsilidae/inae/ini. People who work with them have a general idea of what this group is, whatever rank one assigns it. In turn, this group is part of a larger Amblemoidea/idae/inae, etc.
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
University of Alabama
Biodiversity & Systematics
Dept. Biological Sciences
Box 870345
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0345 USA
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That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droitgate Spa
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