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Re: [dinosaur] Plateosaurus species



> It's my understanding that _P. engelhardti_ is currently regarded as a
> nomen dubium. As such, it should have no taxonomic standing.

The trick is that taxonomic standing and nomenclatural standing are two 
different things. "Nomen dubium" is about taxonomic standing; it is unrelated 
to nomenclatural standing, and therefore not used in any rule of the ICZN (it 
just appears in the glossary).

> So in the event that _P. trossingensis_ and _P. engelhardti_ are
> demonstrated to be conspecific.... this is a tricky one. My
> interpretation is that because _P. trossingensis_ was declared by fiat
> to be the type species, and that _P. engelhardti was specifically set
> aside as type species in the same decision, that _P. trossingensis_
> would therefore have priority over _P. engelhardti_.

No. There is no problem if the name of a type species is a junior synonym. If 
*P. trossingensis* and *P. engelhardti* are subjective (as opposed to 
objective) synonyms, or taxonomic (as opposed to nomenclatural) synonyms as the 
botanical code calls them, then *P. trossingensis* is de jure the type species 
for nomenclatural purposes, and *P. engelhardti* is de facto the _name_ of the 
type species for taxonomic purposes because we think *P. engelhardti* is what 
*P. trossingensis* actually is. This is being done right with *Tarbosaurus*.

A genus whose type species is a junior synonym is no different from a family 
whose type genus bears a name that is a junior synonym â and there are lots 
of those. In my field there are Gymnarthridae, named after *Gymnarthrus*, a 
junior synonym of *Cardiocephalus*, and Brachystelechidae, named after 
*Brachystelechus*, a junior synoym of... a preoccupied name that had to be 
replaced by *Batropetes*.