raptors, swinelizards and bearcrocs

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

Pieter.Depuydt@rug.ac.be wrote:

>>  On the subject of names the usage of "raptors" for dromaeosaurs was 
>> first used by Dale Russel in AN ODDESEY IN TIME.
>>  WMattTroutman

>Russell also used the informal name 'bearcroc' for rauisuchians 
>and poposaurids, 'owliguana' for rhynchosaurs and 'swinelizard' for 
>gomphodont cynodonts, always between quotation marks. These words are 
>neologisms which he created for strictly informal use in his book, 
>after defining them with the exact scientific terminology. 'Raptor' 
>on the other hand  is an already existing, scientific name, which 
>denotes a whole different group of animals.

I asked Dale today about his use of “raptor” in _An Odyssey in Time_ (1989).
 He said it had been in popular use before that, but he didn’t overuse it in
the book either.  

He more deplores the use of the term “non-avian dinosaurs.”

Mary
mkirkaldy@aol.com