Re: Compsognathus prima

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 97-03-06 03:01:36 EST, brucet@mindspring.com (bruce
thompson) writes:

<< Other than Maiasaura and this creature, do any other dinos have
 feminine names? >>

As many as 5 percent of all dinosaur names are feminine (say about 40 or so,
although I haven't actually counted them). As I noted in a previous post,
_Compsognathus_ is not feminine, although _Sinosauropteryx_ is. Less obvious
feminine names include _Ornithopsis_ and _Acanthopholis_. The most frequent
type of feminine name seems to be that ending in -ia, such as _Galtonia_,
_Avalonia_, and _Camelotia_. There are even neuter names, such as
_Fulgurotherium_. I believe dinosaur-name genders are listed in Ben
Creisler's pages at Jeff Poling's Dinosauria web site.

Theoretically, all _-ceratops_ names are feminine, too, but somewhere along
the line the ICZN decided by fiat that these should be masculine. Don't have
the details handy.