RE: di-NO!-tyrannus

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

> From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> Tommy Bradley
>
> Okay,
>      I don't wanna start anything (the last thing in the world
> I'd want is to agrivate anybody :-D), but what's the deel with
> Dinotyrannus?
> Is it the senior synonym of Albertosaurus megagracilis?
> IS it a junior subjective synonym of A. megagracilis?

Dinotyrannus was a name proposed for the specimen previously called
Albertosaurus megagracilis.

> Is it valid?
> Is it INvalid?

It is invalid.

> Or has it become include it with T-rex?

Bingo.  Most detailed analysis of this specimen should be forthcoming this
year.

> Or is it's validity (as so often is the case) strictly a matter
> of opinion?

Well, in a sense, yes: it is a matter of opinion.  However, something that
could make it less subjective would be demonstration either of
misunderstanding of the anatomy and/or discovery of features previously
considered as distinctive showing up in specimens of T. rex.

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
                College Park, MD  20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796