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RE: Various other papers of interest in the latest Palaeontology



Tim Williams wrote-

> One table caption includes this note: "_Ricardoestesia isosceles_ and 
> _Paronychodon lacustris_ are considered synonyms of _Ricardoestesia gilmorei_ 
> (Longrich 2008)."
>
> The reference cited is:
>
> LONGRICH, N. 2008. Small theropod teeth from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. 
> 135–158. In SANKEY, J. T. and BASZIO, S. (eds). Vertebrate microfossil 
> assemblages: their role in paleoecology and paleogeography. Indiana 
> University Press, Bloomington, IN, 304 pp.
>
> Having not seen this particular paper, does Longrich officially synonymize 
> these three species (_Ricardoestesia gilmorei_, _R. isosceles_, _Paronychodon 
> lacustris_)? In this case, _Paronychodon lacustris_ would get priority. But 
> (as I said) having not seen the paper, I don't know what kind of synonymy 
> it's referring to.

Sankey (2002) purported to show that Paronychodon is a morphotype of 
Richardoestesia? isosceles, based on morphology and relative abundance. The 
details of this study have yet to be published, though it does make sense 
stratigraphically, as both taxa first appear in Late Jurassic Europe and spread 
to North America in the Albian, with Late Cretaceous examples known from the 
Western North America, Central Asia and Europe. It's also logical anatomically, 
as Richardoestesia? isosceles would be expected to have some unserrated and 
possibly constricted teeth if it were microraptorian. It should be noted 
Paronychodon has priority over Richardoestesia, and lacustris and caperatus 
both have priority over isosceles. Also, Euronychodon has priority over 
Asiamericana, and portuculensis has priority over both asiatica and asiaticus. 
So if this synonymy is proven, none of the names associated with 
straight-toothed Richardoestesia will survive synonymization. 

Sankey, 2002. Theropod dinosaur diversity in the latest Cretaceous 
(Maastrichtian) of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 22(3), 
103A.

Mickey Mortimer