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I added four more or less "irregular" dinosaur names during the past week. Names #933 and #934, the first to be added in the year 2002, are both nomina nuda: "Huaxiasaurus" Rey, 2002 [nomen nudum] "Ichabodcraniosaurus" Novacek, 1996 [nomen nudum] The former name appears in the English translation of Luis Rey's article, on the October 2001 SVP meeting, published in the current (sixth) issue of Japan's Dino Press magazine. It is said to denote an as yet undescribed theropod from Liaoning. The latter name appears in Mike Novacek's 1996 book on dinosaurs from the Gobi (Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs, Anchor Books), where it informally refers to a headless velociraptorine skeleton for which the detached head was later discovered (hence the reference to Ichabod Crane, the character in Washington Irving's story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" who was menaced by the headless horseman). (Well, it's no worse a nomen nudum than Elvisaurus or Chihuahuasaurus!) Darren Naish, whose emails are always a pleasure to receive and read, notified the dinosaur mailing list of the publication of a new British probable herrerasaurian dinosaur, Agnosphitys cromhallensis. Here are the relevant parts of his email: Subj: NEW GENUS UK BASAL ?DINOSAUR Date: 1/31/02 4:28:15 AM EST This just in, dunno if anyone else has reported it yet (haven't had time to check the backlog)... New basal British ?dinosaur Agnosphitys cromhallensis. Fraser, N. C., Padian, K., Walkden, G. M. & Davis, A. L. M. 2002. Basal dinosauriform remains from Britain and the diagnosis of the Dinosauria. Palaeontology 45, 79-95. Agnosphitys is from the Upper Triassic Cromhall Quarry of Avon, England, best known for sphenosuchian Terrestrisuchus (which Fraser et al. regard as distinct from Saltoposuchus - they also report the presence of two morphs of Terrestrisuchus: Fraser in prep.). Holotype of Agnosphitys is an ilium but referred material includes maxilla, astragalus, humerus, and tooth. Acetabulum semi-perforate, two sacrals, good brevis fossa, acute anteromedial corner to astragalus. As for affinities, Fraser et al provide a small cladogram in which Agnosphitys is more derived than Herrerasaurus and both are outgroups to Dinosauria - they discuss Sereno et al and Novas etc work on the position of Eoraptor and herrerasaurids relative to other dinosaurs but obviously do not include comments on more recent work by Max Langer and colleagues, much of which has major implications for polarity and distribution of the characters discussed here (the Saturnalia paper obviously came out after this was submitted). From a quick read, it seems that their main take is that Eoraptor and herrerasaurids are not dinosaurs, let alone saurischians. One small problemette: two spellings of the new genus are provided in the paper and they are used interchangeably. In the systematic palaeontology section, the new genus is given as Agnosphitys whereas - immediately below - the new species within this genus is given as Agnostiphys [sic] cromhallensis!! Whoops. Because Agnosphitys is first in the paper, I recommend this is the one we use (unless the authors intended otherwise). Etymology seems a bit vague: 'Greek, unknown or uncertain, with reference to the position of the new form relative ot the Dinosauria'. The above paragraph adequately describes the "irregularity" associated with the name. Accordingly, I added name #935 as Agnosphitys Fraser, Padian, Walkden & Davis, 2002 but if it turns out that the alternative spelling is correct, I'll change the listing. Later, Montana entomologist Michael Ivie (Museum of the Rockies) posted the following remarkable email (slightly edited) to the dinosaur mailing list: Subj: New name for Syntarsus Date: 2/1/02 10:41:15 AM EST Dear Dinosaur folks, This is a note to let you know of a recent paper that may fly below your radar because it was published in an entomological journal. The name Syntarsus Raath is preoccupied by a one hundred year older beetle name, and has been replaced by the name Megapnosaurus Ivie, Slipinski and Wegrzynowicz 2001. The citation is: Ivie, M. A., S. A. Slipinski, And P. Wegrzynowicz. 2001. Generic homonyms in the Colydiinae (Coleoptera: Zopheridae). Insecta Mundi 15:63-64. >From the abstract: New replacement names are proposed: Megapnosaurus Ivie, Slipinski and Wegrzynowicz NEW REPLACEMENT NAME for Syntarsus Raath 1969 (Ceratosauria: Coelophysidae), not Syntarsus Fairmaire 1869 (Coleoptera: Zopheridae: Colydiinae). This results in the new combinations Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis (Raath 1961) NEW COMBINATION, Megapnosaurus kayentakatae (Rowe 1989) NEW COMBINATION Boy, did this ever inspire a flurry of rancorous responses! (How dare an >entomologist< rename a well-established dinosaur like Syntarsus with a name whose etymology is "big dead lizard"; etc.) Despite all this, I added name #936 to the Dinosaur Genera List: Megapnosaurus Ivie, Slipinski & Wegrzynowicz, 2001 and I also had to change the listing for Syntarsus: Syntarsus Raath, 1969/Fairmaire, 1869 -> Megapnosaurus Who would have thought, eh? Appropriate changes resulting from the above four additions to the Dinosaur Genera List will also appear in the dinosaur species lists for North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe for the forthcoming second printing of Mesozoic Meanderings #3, as soon as I can get around to them. George "Dinogeorge" Olshevsky Visit my dinosaur websites at: http://members.aol.com/Dinogeorge/index.html http://members.aol.com/Dinogeorge/dinolist.html
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