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Dinosaur Genera List corrections #126
First a couple of minor corrections:
(1) Change the date of Compsognathus to 1859 from 1861. I think there is
enough information in Wagner's 1859 note introducing the genus to consider it
a description.
(2) Remove the asterisk from Nuthetes. Recent work reported by Angela Milner
at a meeting on the Purbeck (D. Naish, pers. comm.) indicates Nuthetes is
some kind of dromaeosaurid and not a lacertilian.
These corrections also apply to the file of European dinosaurs, of course.
Now some major corrections:
I recently received copies of two different privately published booklets,
both identically titled An Extract from: Archosauromorpha: Cladistics &
Osteologies. These were produced by
Stephan Pickering
4950 Capitola Road
Capitola, California 95010, USA
and are available from him. There is no cover price listed, so inquiries
should ask about price and shipping costs. Presumably more such booklets will
be forthcoming.
The first of these is 70 pages long and describes in great detail a new
species of Dilophosaurus, D. breedorum (named to honor the family of William
J. Breed, who assisted Sam Welles in collecting the type specimen). It is
based on skeletal material (UCMP 77270, at University of California Museum of
Paleontology at Berkeley) including a well preserved partial skull that shows
the cranial crests. Recall that the type specimen of Dilophosaurus wetherilli
includes a skull lacking the crests, and that when Welles (1970) restored the
skull of Dilophosaurus this was the specimen he used for the crests. In 1984
Welles opined that this specimen represented a different species of Dilophosau
rus from the type. His manuscript describing the species remained unpublished
during his lifetime, so evidently Stephan Pickering has completed it and
gotten it into print.
Pickering attributes the species to Welles, 1995, but this must be a
manuscript date, since the description was not published then and has only
appeared through Pickering's efforts this year (1999). So I add
D. breedorum Welles, 1995 vide Welles & Pickering, 1999
to the list of species under Dilophosaurus in the file of North American
dinosaurs. The authors of the description that Pickering published are given
as Welles & Pickering.
Among the genera and species tabulated in the comparative study of D.
breedorum are some more new theropod taxa. Since none is itself described in
the paper, they must be regarded as nomina nuda. Presumably they are
described in Welles's unpublished manuscript (with H. Phillip Powell) on
British theropods, or in some other manuscript that Pickering has in
preparation. No date is given for these species:
Walkersaurus Welles vide Welles & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
(new generic name for Megalosaurus hesperis Waldman, 1974)
Ceratosaurus willisobrienorum Welles & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
(several specimens are noted for this species, so I cannot tell which, if
any, is the type specimen)
Newtonsaurus Welles vide Welles & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
(new generic name for Zanclodon cambrensis, also known as Megalosaurus
cambrensis)
Note that I omit the vide attribution for Ceratosaurus willisobrienorum,
since I believe that name is Pickering's creation, not Welles's.
The second booklet is 121 pages long and contains an extensive redescription
of Megalosaurus bucklandii. The authors are given as Welles, Powell, and
Pickering. No publication date is provided in the text, but it has to be this
year as well, 1999.
Among the dinosaurs in the comparative section are the following new species:
Metriacanthosaurus reynoldsi Welles, Powell & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
Metriacanthosaurus brevis Welles, Powell & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
Megalosaurus phillipsi Welles, Powell & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
Some of the other new species mentioned previously are also noted.
This paper is clearly extracted from the Welles & Powell theropod manuscript
and completed by Pickering.
On the front of each booklet are strings of copyright notices dating back to
1974. Since the material was certainly not published on those dates, it is
not clear what is being copyrighted. Copyrighting a manuscript does not
establish priority for taxonomic names under the ICZN; only actual
publication does. Also, there is no evidence within the publication itself
that it is freely available in multiple copies from the publisher (Stephan
Pickering), for sale or for free, as required by the ICZN to be considered a
publication for purposes of zoological nomenclature. I do not know whether
this is an intentional or unintentional omission by the publisher, but if he
can supply these booklets in response to orders, then I would say they're
legitimate publications.
In any case, I now add genera #870 and 871 to the Dinosaur Genera List:
Newtonsaurus Welles vide Welles & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
Walkersaurus Welles vide Welles & Pickering, 1999 [nomen nudum]
The [nomen nudum] will drop when the actual descriptions of these genera
appear in print. As far as I know, both genera were originated by Welles (or
perhaps Welles & Powell) more than 20 years ago when the theropod manuscript
was being written (R. A. Long, pers. comm.), and they have finally appeared
in (some kind of) published form. There are other new taxa in the Welles &
Powell manuscript that have not yet been mentioned in print (as far as I
know). I also know there is an ongoing project in Great Britain to redescribe
the theropod material there, including Megalosaurus bucklandii, but I have no
idea what impact the existence of these two papers will have on those studies.
The lists of North American and European dinosaurs should be updated to
include the aforementioned new taxa.
Copies of my files of dinosaur species by continent are now available on the
Internet at T. Mike Keesey's Web site:
http://dinosaur.umbc.edu/rigby/index.html
Go there and download them, or simply email me and I will upload the files by
return email. Both Mac (RTF) and Windows (DOC) files are available at the Web
site. My files may be slightly more up to date, since I will not be
forwarding copies to the Web site every single time I update them.
Regarding Stephan Pickering: Although I haven't corresponded with him in
recent years, I have known him for about two decades, and he has been very
helpful at times in supplying information from his Fractal Scaling in
Dinosaurology Projects to Tracy Ford and to me. Tracy continues to send him
copies of new papers from time to time and to exchange publications with him.
I think he may have quite a lot to offer to the vertebrate paleontological
community.