The study directly challenges phyletic gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Gradualism is often confused with the concept of phyletic gradualism. The fossil record includes well documented examples of both phyletic gradualism and punctuational evolution. Fleming calls Borean a "phyletic chain" rather than a super-phylum. This was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. It belongs to the class Gammaproteobacteria and had its own phyletic line within the class. Phyletic dwarfism is the decrease in average size of animals of a species.