deleting multiple tags

Sometimes I will bring in a model from Poser to use in C4D (for still rendering--not animation). When I bring in the model and use the connect, command, that flattens the heirarchy down into a single mesh. There are many selection tags that remain after "flattening" which is helpful if you need to map textures onto different polygon groups (hair, eyes, etc).

Is there a simple way to delete these selections after they are created, without selecting them one at a time and deleting? I can't seem to find a way to drag a marquee around them or shift-select them (theres like 20 of them to delete manually each time). Just a nitpicky question in the hopes of saving some time.

thanks