RE: Ceratops (was RE Glishades ericksoni, ...)

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

The argument is that you can't prove it's the same type of organism of 
*Ceratops montanus*. Thus, if its from the same horizon, same locality, shows 
the same essential features, you meet a reasonable level of certainty it is the 
same type of animal, although it's hard to prove it; if you find a similar 
specimen from a different horizon, different locality, etc, that certainty 
decreases. One could just as easily have a different taxon. Because of this, 
referal of that specimen to a "nomen dubium" becomes assailable by the above 
argument, and I can be tempted to just separate the good material on its own 
after the fact; nothing keeps that specimen attached to the name by the 
holotype except for perhaps historical qualities.

Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden
The Bite Stuff (site v2)
http://qilong.wordpress.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a
different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race
has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or
his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion 
Backs)





----------------------------------------
> Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 06:00:50 +0000
> From: keenir@hotmail.com
> To: tijawi@yahoo.com; dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: RE: Ceratops (was RE Glishades ericksoni, ...)
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
>> Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 21:02:49 -0700
>> From: tijawi@yahoo.com
>> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
>> Subject: RE: Ceratops (was RE: Glishades ericksoni, ...)
>>
>> Michael Mortimer wrote:
>>
>
>> It is different because _Ceratops montanus_ is a nomen dubium, so the name 
>> is limited to the type specimen *only*. As a nomen dubium, no further 
>> material can be referred to _C. montanus_, and the type specimen for _C. 
>> montanus_ cannot be referred to another genus or species. This is the 
>> unhappy fate of a nomen dubium.
>
> So.....even if, early tomorrow morning, someone unearths a fossil identical 
> to the _Ceratops montanus_ type specimen, it doesn't matter?
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