Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 02:23:10 -0500 (EST) From: WDiester@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg724$foo@default> Subject: Re: Carnivorous Sponges
Dear Jan and all others who are interested,
>Please do not understand the following message as mere criticism.
Au contraire, I wanted critics and more detailed explanations!
>...plant monsters are. This is sytematics, and systematics is always
>interesting. (don t smile!)
How could I dare... :-|
>> Today most biologists divide all living creatures up into 5 kingdoms:
>Please exclude me from your list of "most biologists".
How about: "Most biologists, who prefer a more macroscopic view of life and
know little about microbiology and rRNA-sequencing"?
>> Monera (all single celled species without a true nucleus, e.g. bacteria),
>Your Monera as defined above (i.e. several years ago)
In those golden old days when we knew nothing about 16S-rRNA...
>are higly
>polyphyletic. There is at least one really BIG division which
>separates all archaebacteria from the Eubacteria. In fact,
>Archaea are apparently closer to Eucaryota than to Eubacteria, so
>they should constitute at least one separate kingdom (perhaps even
>several kingdoms).
A microbiological lumper would then have only those three (Archaebacteria,
Eubacteria and Eucaryota), a splitter could well have (e.g.) 11 kingdoms in
Eubacteria, at least 3 in Archaebacteria and perhaps 6 in Eucaryota. It is a
matter of personal taste.
>> Animalia (multicellular organisms who can do no photosynthesis and are no
>> fungi).
>So _Rafflesia_ (usually regarded a holoparasitic flowering *plant*) is
>in fact an animal?
Certainly not, she lost photosynthetic ability due to her "way of life", like
Orobanchaceae and plants like that.
>> I know, these definitions are too short and could need a more detailed
>> explanation....
>Certainly.
And you did it. Thanks!!!
>> There is no doubt that sponges belong to the regnum animalia.
>Yes, usually.
Usually?????
I know (from personal observation in some flooded quarries) that they may be
green, but only because they have incorporated some tiny green algae into
their bodies. Symbiosis, isn't it?
Best wishes
Wolfram
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