Re: paleonet Dinosaur Genera List update #182

["Jeremy" <backtrail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

im gathering some info on the utahraptor, please send info to me

david homan
----- Original Message -----
From: <Dinogeorge@aol.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 12:38 AM
Subject: paleonet Dinosaur Genera List update #182


> 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
>
>