TY - JOUR
T1 - Covert biases, circularity, and apomorphies
T2 - A critical look at the North American Quaternary Herpetofaunal Stability Hypothesis
AU - Bell, Christopher J.
AU - Gauthier, Jacques A.
AU - Bever, Gabe S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We benefited from years of both constructive and acrimonious discussions with many colleagues who share our interest in the fossil record. Those who particularly helped us to frame the thoughts expressed in this paper are Anjan Bhullar, Chris Brochu, Julia Clarke, Russ Graham, Jason Head, Marci Hollenshead, Chris Jass, Ernie Lundelius, Jim Mead, Mark Norell, Jen Olori, Tim Rowe, Blaine Schubert, and Krister Smith. We gratefully acknowledge the patience and encouragement we received from Eric Scott during preparation of this manuscript. Logistical support was provided by Dennis Trombatore and Mary Poteet. Comments on earlier versions of this manuscript were provided by Geraldine Swartz, Jim Mead, and an anonymous reviewer. Errors of fact, interpretation, and judgment are our own, but we appreciate the input and insights shared by all these colleagues.
Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/4/15
Y1 - 2010/4/15
N2 - The North American Pleistocene Herpetofaunal Stability Hypothesis was established in the 1980s based on summary reviews of primary descriptive paleoherpetological literature. The hypothesis posits that North American herpetofaunas essentially were taxonomically and geographically stable throughout the Quaternary. Modern biogeographic distribution of species served as an important criterion for primary identification of the majority of fossil herpetofaunal specimens, rendering the Herpetofaunal Stability Hypothesis circular. Apomorphy-based identifications are an important and well-established alternative to the traditional approach, but are used only rarely within the Quaternary paleontology community. Preliminary applications of the apomorphy-based approach reveal that species-level resolution often is not possible for herpetofaunal remains. Lack of species-level resolution may be a consequence of poor documentation of evolutionary morphology for most herpetofaunal species lineages. Development of adequate skeletal collections and the search for apomorphies in the anatomical systems typically preserved in Quaternary deposits will yield meaningful insights into evolutionary morphology, an enhanced appreciation of Quaternary faunal dynamics, and a greater concordance with modern neontological approaches. Maintenance of traditional methods of identification will yield a false perception of clarity, erroneous interpretations of Quaternary faunal dynamics, and may perpetuate misleading data in Quaternary paleontology as well as other fields that rely on those data.
AB - The North American Pleistocene Herpetofaunal Stability Hypothesis was established in the 1980s based on summary reviews of primary descriptive paleoherpetological literature. The hypothesis posits that North American herpetofaunas essentially were taxonomically and geographically stable throughout the Quaternary. Modern biogeographic distribution of species served as an important criterion for primary identification of the majority of fossil herpetofaunal specimens, rendering the Herpetofaunal Stability Hypothesis circular. Apomorphy-based identifications are an important and well-established alternative to the traditional approach, but are used only rarely within the Quaternary paleontology community. Preliminary applications of the apomorphy-based approach reveal that species-level resolution often is not possible for herpetofaunal remains. Lack of species-level resolution may be a consequence of poor documentation of evolutionary morphology for most herpetofaunal species lineages. Development of adequate skeletal collections and the search for apomorphies in the anatomical systems typically preserved in Quaternary deposits will yield meaningful insights into evolutionary morphology, an enhanced appreciation of Quaternary faunal dynamics, and a greater concordance with modern neontological approaches. Maintenance of traditional methods of identification will yield a false perception of clarity, erroneous interpretations of Quaternary faunal dynamics, and may perpetuate misleading data in Quaternary paleontology as well as other fields that rely on those data.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.quaint.2009.08.009
DO - 10.1016/j.quaint.2009.08.009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77950626598
SN - 1040-6182
VL - 217
SP - 30
EP - 36
JO - Quaternary International
JF - Quaternary International
IS - 1-2
ER -