Paleocarriageology is the science that deals with the macroevolution of carriages from ancient times to the present, based on fossil remains of the same.
Carriage Taxonomy is the science of naming and classifying carriages, both ancient and modern.
A carriage phylogeny is the (theoretical) evolutionary history of that particular species of carriage, and phylogenetic taxonomists try to classify carriages by their phylogenetic (sometimes shortened to phyletic) relationships.
The broad outlines of carriage macroevolution are very clear, and there is wide agreement among paleocarriageologists, especially as regards the taxonomy of carriages proposed by the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain and the Automobile Club de France. There is less agreement as regards the finer points of carriage phylogeny: precise details are obscure, and competing phylogenies based on different criteria are often contradictory and result in entirely different schemes. Perhaps with more time and the discovery of more carriage fossils these contradictions and ambiguities will be resolved. Recently proposed mechanisms, such as ``convergent evolution,'' may help to clarify some apparent discrepancies. For example, it is now widely accepted that the independent, sudden appearance of the phylogenetically advanced electric starter in five or six different classes of Phylum Gasolinophyta can only be accounted for by convergent evolution. The selective advantages for these convergent adaptations are, in most cases, obvious.
The taxa (hierarchical categories of classification) proposed by the Royal Automobile Club of Great Britain and the Automobile Club de France, and ratified by the International Committee on Vehicular Nomenclature, are now universally recognized. In this scheme there are two kingdoms:
A. Kingdom Prokarriageota includes all carriages that are heterolocomotes, that is, those which depend on some external source of locomotion, e.g., donkeys, mules, oxen, horses, even humans. All of our earliest carriage fossils (Precambrian) are members of this kingdom, as are certain extant forms such as Amish buggies, Japanese rickshaws, and the more widely dispersed bicycles. As one would expect, the prokarriageotic specimens are comparatively primitive in the entire range of features.
B. Kingdom Eukarriageota includes all carriages that are autolocomotes, that is, those which are self-propelled. These more advanced carriages appear later in the fossil record, starting with the so-called ``Cambrian Auto Explosion,'' and they ultimately become not only far more sophisticated, but much more numerous and diverse than their prokarriageotic counterparts.
It is obvious that the eukarriageotes have evolved from the procarriageotes. No one questions this fact, except for a few religious Fundamentalists who invoke common design. The oldest, most primitive eukarriageotic autolocomotes look strikingly similar to the prokarriageotic heterolocomotes, except for their primitive little engines and drive trains. These, it is agreed, must have arisen by some sort of endosymbiotic association of several ancient heterolocomotes. The fossil record clearly reveals a steady progression and proliferation of increasingly complex and sophisticated eukarriageotic autolocomotes. Although a fair number of representative prokarriageotic heterolocomotes are still extant today, these have not evolved significantly since ancient times, but are strikingly similar to their oldest ancestors. On this much all carriage taxonomists and paleocarriageologists can agree.
Major Phyla of Eukarriageota:
A. Phylum Windmillophyta (c 1472-1714, all now extinct)
B. Phylum Clockworkophyta (c 1748, rare, now extinct)
C. Phylum Airpressureophyta (18th cen., now extinct)
D. Phylum Steamolophyta (earliest fossil, 1678, from China, but is disputed; very prolific at beginning of 20th cen., but now extinct)
E. Phylum Electrolophyta (also very prolific early 20th cen.; now extinct)
F. Phylum Gasolinolophyta (most recent and most phylogenetically advanced of all carriages; dominates the landscape today, but 