|
1-10 of 15 messages
|
Page 1 of 2
Next
|
|
Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by viper007 on March 27, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
I assume some of you have seen this already.
Media release – 23 March 2009
True Cobras reclassified!
Their classification has just had a major shake up.
Recent studies of the DNA of the group showed various lineages to be far more ancient than earlier thought.
However there was confusion as to which groups of snakes had actually been named at the genus level in the past.
It turned out that just 2 of 4 obvious subgroups had been named.
In a paper published this week, Australian zoologist Raymond Hoser reclassified the group assigning names to the other 2 groups and working out which species were closest to which.
Taking a conservative stand, all groups had diverged at least 10 million years from a common ancestor to warrant being named at the genus level.
By contrast for great apes (including humans) anything with a divergence of more than 4 million years is placed in a separate genus.
Hoser’s paper, while seemingly radical in terms of the number of new genera named, has been described by himself as “merely stating the obvious”.
He said that while there was room to also split the spitting Cobras into subgenera and likewise for the genus Boulengerina, for which there was an argument for a three-way split at the subgenus level, he chose to take the conservative position and leave them untouched at that level.
In 2004, Hoser controversially placed the world’s longest snake, the Reticulated Python, in it’s own genus, Broghammerus, taking it away from the better known genus “Python”. Later DNA studies, the results of which were published in 2008, upheld the Hoser position, showing that they had diverged from their nearest python relatives about 30 million years ago.
“Broghammerus reticulatus” is now generally accepted.
Hoser said this week, “No doubt there will be short term resistance from some quarters to use the new generic names, but, the concept of many of radically different forms and ancient lineages, being in the same genus, is simply not tenable”.
The paper is:
A reclassification of the True Cobras; species formerly referred to the genera Naja, Boulengerina and Paranaja.
Australasian Journal of Herpetology 7 (2009):1-15.
The web link is at:
http://www.smuggled.com/AJHIP1.htm
ABSTRACT
Recent studies of so-called “True Cobras” by different authors have been consistent in ascertaining the relationships between taxa. This includes the identifying of four major well-defined clades, the relationships of which had for a long time been confusing due to apparent convergence in recent evolution.
Genus names are available for two of the four. The remaining two genera are formally diagnosed and named herein.
Included within these newly identified and named genera are the majority of African species.
Keywords: new taxa, snake, Cobra, taxonomy, Spracklandus gen. nov., Wellsus gen. nov.
SPECIES LIST FOR THE TRUE COBRAS
(HOSER 2009)
Naja
Naja naja (Linnaeus 1758)
Naja kaouthia Lesson 1831
Naja siamensis Laurenti 1768
Naja sputatrix Boie 1827
Naja samarensis Peters 1861
Naja atra Cantor 1842
Naja sumatrana Muller 1890
Naja philippinensis Taylor 1922
Naja mandalayensis Slowinski and Wüster 2000
Naja oxiana (Eichwald 1831)
Naja sagittifera Wall 1913
Boulengerina
Boulengeria annulata (Bucholz and Peters 1876)
Boulengeria christyi Boulenger 1904
Boulengeria multifasciata (Werner 1902)
Boulengeria melanoleuca (Hallowell 1857)
Wellsus gen. nov. - Hoser 2009
Wellsus haje (Linnaeus 1758)
Wellsus nivea (Linnaeus 1758)
Wellsus annulifera (Peters 1854)
Wellsus anchietae (Bocage 1879)
Wellsus annulifera (Peters 1854)
Spracklandus gen. nov. - Hoser 2009
Spracklandus ashei (Wüster and Broadley 2007)
Spracklandus nigricincta (Bogert 1940)
Spracklandus nigricollis (Reinhardt 1843)
Spracklandus mossambica (Peters 1854)
Spracklandus pallida (Boulenger 1896)
Spracklandus nubiae (Wüster and Broadley 2003)
Spracklandus katiensis (Angel 1922)
END
Let's ignore Hoser himself for a moment, but does anyone here have any comments about whether his split makes sense or not?
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by stopgetinpopped on March 27, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
"Let's ignore Hoser himself for a moment, but does anyone here have any comments about whether his split makes sense or not?"
Nope..he's an idiot and his splits are self serving drivel
T-
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by Chris_Harper on March 28, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
But please leave this up. I am interested in hearing the professional comments. And please..........no name calling. Just the facts.
from Iraq,
webmaster
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by Phobos on March 28, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
I agree with Chris and the saying "Give him enough rope to hang himself"
Al
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by Buzztail1 on March 28, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Fine, let's leave it up.
But I would really appreciate if Viper would fill in their profile. I would not be a bit surprised to find the face behind the mask to be Hoser's own.
R/
Karl
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by stopgetinpopped on March 28, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
You're the Boss Chris. Though, just giving this stuff bandwidth is what makes Hoser successful at creating confusion...
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by Rob_Carmichael on March 28, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
I agree with Terry 100%. But, I am going to peruse through his "research" (and boy do I use that word closely when critiquing his work) and see what comes up. For the most part, my guess is that this gentleman is not doing any sort of authentic research but just knows how to meander his way through scientific rhetoric and stirring up the pot w/in the taxonomic community. I'd love to get Wolfgang Wuster's thoughts on this.
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by theemojohnm on March 28, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Terry & Rob, I completely agree, and have been meaning to do so for a while now.
I would love some kind of formal backup on this from someone reputable who actually produce "BALANCED" work, such as Wuster. Has anyone emailed him? I think I might. This is going a bit far.
And I honestly would like to know a bit more about "Viper007" or whatever the username is. Quite active in the Hoser discussions for not having a profile filled out.
Take Care,
-John Mendrola.
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by CAISSACA on March 29, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Exactly the same story as for the rattlers: if you don't think it was broke, don't pay to have it fixed.
And you can forget Hoser's genus Wellsus: Hoser overlooked the existing genus Uraeus Wagler 1830, type species Naja haje, so even if one did want to recognise multiple genera within what is now Naja, the one for the haje group would be Uraeus, not Wellsus.
So, in a nutshell, ignore completely.
Cheers,
WW
|
| |
|
RE: Yikes, yikes, yikes, Naja nuked!
|
Reply
|
|
by Chris_Harper on March 29, 2009
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
How does this hogwash keep being perpetuated? Has he successfully renamed anything? I really wonder why this individual simply doesn't carry on with his life and stop this nonsense.
CH
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
