I dislike the Tolkien ones, too.
I also feel that the higher the taxon the more inappropriate the 'fun' names are. But I appreciate creativity in naming - I love subtle jokes in nomenclature.
Thomas Yazbeck
From: Tyler Greenfield <tgreenfield999@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, March 1, 2021 11:49 PM
To: Yazbeck, Thomas <yazbeckt@msu.edu>; dinosaur-l@usc.edu <dinosaur-l@usc.edu>
Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Ninjatitan, new titanosaur (earliest known) from Lower Cretaceous of Argentina
Naming taxa after pop culture characters is not a modern phenomenon. The spider Bagheera kiplingi
named in 1896 is a particularly early example that I can think of. There are also the various taxa named after Tolkien characters in the 1970's (Mithrandir, Ankalagon, Gollum, etc.).
I'm not a professional so my opinion really doesn't matter, but I just dislike 'nerdy' references in biological nomenclature. Comic books, Star Wars, video games, etc. There's something uncouth to me about naming an entire taxon of creatures after the crass,
juvenile products of modern capitalist excess.
I'm also not sure it's good PR for paleontology - it entrenches the association between dinosaurs and all things juvenile. These opinions are coming from my pink political views more than anything, honestly: prehistory should not be a billboard. I do enjoy
lowbrow pop culture as I'm sure many other folks do, so I think I can escape accusations of being "no fun" - I just am worried about what we're leaving future generations of paleo-enthusiasts.
Thomas Yazbeck
I feel better about it now! If it was named after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I would have been cross.
Thomas Yazbeck
Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Ninjatitan, new titanosaur (earliest known) from Lower Cretaceous of Argentina
Ben Creisler
The news story in Spanish I included explains the name. "El Ninja" is a nickname for Argentine paleontologist Sebastián Apesteguía, so it's named in his honor.
I think it's a horrible name! Childish prefix, played-out suffix (-titan). I also am in the dark about the etymology since I cannot access the full text.
Thomas Yazbeck
I can't access the paper, so why did they call it that?
_Ninjatitan_: cool name. Note that the Late Jurassic (Tendaguru) sauropods _Australodocus_ and _Janenschia_ have occasionally been regarded as titanosaurs; but this has not been supported t by recent phylogenetic analyses (e.g., Mannion et al., 2019).
Some years back, I had hoped that _"Apatosaurus" minimus_ (Morrison Formation) might turn out to be a titanosaur; but that hasn't panned out. (All three taxa are very incompletely known.)
Returning to the _Ninjatitan_ paper... I didn't know 'Colossosauria' was so hard to spell.
Ben Creisler
A new paper:
Ninjatitan zapatai gen. et sp. nov.
The titanosaur sauropod record of Patagonia, mainly recovered from Upper Cretaceous strata, is probably the richest worldwide. Here we present a new sauropod dinosaur, Ninjatitan zapatai gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous Bajada Colorada Formation
(Berriasian–Valanginian) of north Patagonia (Neuquén Province, Argentina), from which postcranial remains are preserved. The anatomical analysis and comparisons performed in this specimen evidence strong affinity with titanosaur sauropods. This assumption
is corroborated with the inclusion of the new taxon in an updated phylogenetic data matrix. The cladistic analyses indicate that Ninjatitan could be considered the earliest known titanosaur sauropod. The combination of features such as the presence of procoelous
anterior caudal centra, the pneumatized neural arch of anterior caudal vertebrae, and the posterodorsal border of the scapular acromion near the glenoid level supports its titanosaur affinities. The presence of a basal titanosaurian sauropod in the lowermost
Cretaceous of Patagonia supports the hypothesis that the group was established in the Southern Hemisphere and reinforces the idea of a Gondwanan origin for Titanosauria. The Bajada Colorada sauropod fauna represents one of the most diverse and unique associations
from the lowermost Cretaceous worldwide recorded.
News:
In Spanish:
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