Re: Dinosaur skin revisited

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-08-15 08:51:06 EDT, gbabcock@best.com (Gigi Babcock or
Ralph Miller III) writes:

<< Speaking again of <Compsognathus prima> ...>>

I thought we had been through this already. _Compsognathus_ is (by
established usage as well as the ending -us) a masculine noun (despite being
derived from the feminine Greek _gnathos_), so the species epithet should be
spelled _primus_, if you're going to insist on referring that species to the
genus _Compsognathus_. This combination and the reasoning behind its
formation have not yet been formally published, so it's more correct to use
the original species name, _Sinosauropteryx prima_ (and here the _pteryx_
root is feminine, requiring the feminine adjective _prima_ as the species
epithet).