>Suppose for a moment that the domesticated dog was extinct. Suppose also
>that the incredible diversity of the species canis familiaris existed in
>the distant past long before the appearance of man--extinct before the
>first hominids walked the planet. Now what would modern scientists
>conclude about the fossilized remains of the species? Would they be
>grouped into the single species which they are? or would they be
>grouped into a family of related species? or would every diverse form
>be considered a unique species?
This is a really good question that I hope someone can give us a good answer to.
I have brought it up before but there has never been a response -- probably
because it was usually an aside in a longer post. But I'm _really_
interested in knowing how paleontologists decide that two fossils are of
the same, different, or related species. I suspect there are some
"invariants" like certain ratios and curvatures that might be identifiers
of common or related species, and I believe dentition is a good clue to
common or related species, but everything I know about this is hearsay. I
hope someone in the group can give us a precis of the methods used and
point us to some references.
Bill Hamilton
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William E. Hamilton, Jr, Ph.D. | Staff Research Engineer
Chassis and Vehicle Systems | General Motors R&D Center | Warren, MI
810 986 1474 (voice) | 810 986 3003 (FAX) | whamilto@mich.com (home email)