The ReptileEvolution.com Project

Taxon exclusion is the number one problem currently vexing paleontology. The search for pterosaur, turtle, bat, snake, whale, reptile and tetrapod ancestors continues to unnecessarily befuddle paleontologists who continue to work from cherry-picked, textbook and traditional taxon lists that overlook and omit pertinent taxa. That’s why the large reptile tree (LRT), the nearly completely resolved cladogram at the heart of www.ReptileEvolution.com, includes 2212 taxa. Larger taxon numbers minimize taxon exclusion issues. Results indicate the simple act of adding taxa resolves all phylogenetic issues.

分类群排除（taxon exclusion）是当前困扰古生物学界的首要难题。针对翼龙、龟类、蝙蝠、蛇类、鲸类、爬行动物及四足动物祖先的探寻工作，仍在无端地困扰着古生物学者——这些学者仍在沿用刻意遴选、源自教科书与传统范式的分类群名录，这类名录忽视甚至遗漏了诸多相关分类群。正因如此，作为www.ReptileEvolution.com核心组成部分的大型爬行动物树（LRT）——一幅近乎完全解析的支序分类图（cladogram）——共纳入2212个分类群。更多的分类群数量可最大限度降低分类群排除问题带来的负面影响。研究结果显示，仅通过增加分类群这一简单举措，即可解决所有系统发育相关难题。