Category
Poster - Basic
Description
Baraminology is the study of God’s created kinds as described in Genesis 1. Holobaramins (groups of known organisms sharing continuity and bounded by discontinuity) are scientific approximations of these kinds identified by building up monobaramins (smaller, continuous groups) and dividing apobaramins (larger, discontinuous groups). The lungless salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae), composed of over 500 species in 29 genera, have been grouped together by herpetologists for almost 200 years. This consistent taxonomic history suggests that the family represents a cognitum (group of organisms recognized through the human cognitive senses as belonging together) and possibly apobaramin. The goals of the present study are to: 1) identify characteristics from the herpetological literature shared by all or most of the lungless salamanders; 2) survey the three major taxonomic schemes from the past 60 years to identify consistent groupings of genera over time; and 3) compile records of hybridization to demonstrate continuity among various groups of species. Our literature search suggests that lungless salamanders do, in fact, share a tremendous number of unique characteristics (or combinations of characteristics) and are therefore an apobaramin. The survey of taxonomic schemes identifies seven monobaramins ranging from supergenus to tribe or subfamily level. Many records of interspecific hybridization (but not intergeneric or intertribal) reveal fourteen monobaramins at the genus level ranging in size from 2-14 species. These data suggest that lungless salamander holobaramin(s) are found somewhere between the genus and family levels (possibly modern tribe level). Other research by our team, utilizing morphological and molecular datasets, yields similar results. We will continue our attempts to identify holobaramin(s) by conducting additional morphological and molecular analyses and utilizing genetic distance data to expand our hybridization analysis. Despite the preliminary nature of our conclusions, we are the first to conduct baraminological analyses in this family of salamanders.
Using Taxonomic and Hybridization Data to Identify Lungless Salamander Kinds
Poster - Basic
Baraminology is the study of God’s created kinds as described in Genesis 1. Holobaramins (groups of known organisms sharing continuity and bounded by discontinuity) are scientific approximations of these kinds identified by building up monobaramins (smaller, continuous groups) and dividing apobaramins (larger, discontinuous groups). The lungless salamanders (Caudata: Plethodontidae), composed of over 500 species in 29 genera, have been grouped together by herpetologists for almost 200 years. This consistent taxonomic history suggests that the family represents a cognitum (group of organisms recognized through the human cognitive senses as belonging together) and possibly apobaramin. The goals of the present study are to: 1) identify characteristics from the herpetological literature shared by all or most of the lungless salamanders; 2) survey the three major taxonomic schemes from the past 60 years to identify consistent groupings of genera over time; and 3) compile records of hybridization to demonstrate continuity among various groups of species. Our literature search suggests that lungless salamanders do, in fact, share a tremendous number of unique characteristics (or combinations of characteristics) and are therefore an apobaramin. The survey of taxonomic schemes identifies seven monobaramins ranging from supergenus to tribe or subfamily level. Many records of interspecific hybridization (but not intergeneric or intertribal) reveal fourteen monobaramins at the genus level ranging in size from 2-14 species. These data suggest that lungless salamander holobaramin(s) are found somewhere between the genus and family levels (possibly modern tribe level). Other research by our team, utilizing morphological and molecular datasets, yields similar results. We will continue our attempts to identify holobaramin(s) by conducting additional morphological and molecular analyses and utilizing genetic distance data to expand our hybridization analysis. Despite the preliminary nature of our conclusions, we are the first to conduct baraminological analyses in this family of salamanders.
Comments
Undergraduate