RE: New names in dissertations

[Tim Williams <tijawi@yahoo.com>]

Brad McFeeters wrote:

> If your dissertation name
> isn't "real," it means that this unsuspecting
> grad student now has the credit for naming the taxon.>
> Has this ever actually happened to a real taxon?


A similar thing happened with the name _Ultrasaurus_.  A Korean scientist (Kim) 
inadvertently erected the genus _Ultrasaurus_ in 1983, when he named _U. 
tabriensis_.  Apparently Kim was under the misapprehension that the genus 
_Ultrasaurus_ had already been erected by Jensen.  But although Jensen's 
"Ultrasaurus" was circulating through the popular media (and the scientific 
literature too, to a lesser degree), Jensen had not yet officially described 
his new genus "Ultrasaurus".  By the time Jensen did get around to naming 
_Ultrasaurus macintoshi_ (1985) (the intended type species for _Ultrasaurus_ 
Jensen), _Ultrasaurus_ had already been named by Kim.

Kim's _Ultrasaurus_ is a nomen dubium, and Jensen's _Ultrasaurus_ is a 
subjective junior synonym of _Supersaurus_.  So this nomenclatural issue has 
faded into oblivion.  


Cheers

Tim