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 2186 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、爬行动物以及四足动物（tetrapod）的祖先搜寻工作，仍在毫无必要地令古生物学家陷入困惑：这些学者仍在沿用经过刻意筛选的教科书式与传统分类群名录开展研究，而这类名录恰恰忽视并遗漏了诸多相关分类群。正因如此，作为www.ReptileEvolution.com核心板块的近乎完全解析的分支图（cladogram）——大型爬行动物树（LRT）——共纳入2186个分类群。更多的分类群数量可最大程度降低分类群排除问题带来的负面影响。研究结果显示，仅通过添加分类群这一简单操作，便可解决所有系统发育（phylogenetic）相关的难题。