Board Thread:Wiki Discussion/@comment-25175729-20180615181837

Due to the recent confusion over how creatures should be classified, with blessing from bureaucrats I have been adding "type species" to various taxons, mainly families. But why?

According to this very wiki, taxonomy is based on a creature's resemblance to a real animal first. This means that something being a pterosaur takes priority over it being a wyvern, for example--while pterosaurs do resemble wyverns, wyverns that are not pterosaurs do not resemble pterosaurs. Fantasy categories should be considered a last resort, not the default.

That said, it's become clear that some people are struggling to see the difference between not just real and fantasy taxons, but also between different real-life taxons--and have been merging them against all logic based on similarities that do not exist. The reason? "The difference cannot be recreated in Spore without mods!"

That's literally not true.

My type species project aims to prove that the differences between the vast majority of taxons can in fact be recreated in Spore without mods, and thus it must be recognized. As fast as I can get to them, every single family taxon based on real-life families or creatures from myth or popular culture will have an unmodded semi-realistic creature made to serve as its type species, as well as the real-life, mythological, or fictional creature the taxon is based on for good measure.

If you can make such creatures yourself and want to help, especially with arthropods and arthropod-like creatures which I struggle with, please make such a creature and comment below requesting it to be made the family's type species. 