RE: Minotaurasaurus controversy

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

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of David Marjanovic
>
> > English not being my native language, maybe I have failed 
> to be clear. 
> > What I meant by "properly published" it's a new publication that 
> > replaces the former one, assigns a new name to the fossil, 
> and drops 
> > the bad guy into oblivion... (".. The name of the perpetrator...").
> 
> But there is no way to drop a valid name into oblivion, and
> *Minotaurasaurus* is valid, because there is a type specimen, 
> a diagnosis, and so on. Neither the provenance of the 
> specimen nor (while I am at it) the stupid second _a_ in the 
> name matter at all. To assign a new name to the fossil would 
> mean to create an objective junior synonym which would be invalid.
> 
> The whole ICZN is online: http://www.iczn.org/iczn/index.jsp 

Although the name will still be around in the literature, it is not at all
apparent that it will be considered the appropriate name for the fossil. For
example, there is no evidence in the paper that the authors compared it to
*Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus*, and it certainly has some resemblances to
that species.

As an aside, an examination (lithological, isotopic, etc.) of the matrix
might reveal which formation the specimen came from.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Earth, Life & Time Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite/
Fax: 301-405-0796

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA