Dinosaur Genera List corrections #98

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

Several new dinosaur genera appeared in print during or shortly after this
year's Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting, and it is time I
added them to the Dinosaur Genera List. Let me take them in order of arrival
here:

Taquet, P. & Russell, D. A., 1998. "New data on spinosaurid dinosaurs from the
Early Cretaceous of the Sahara," Comptes Rendus Académie des Sciences du
Paris, Sciences de la Terre et des planètes 327: 347?353.

This paper describes the new genus and species _Cristatusaurus lapparenti_, a
Moroccan spinosaurid based on premaxillae, partial right maxilla, and dentary,
all apparently belonging to a single individual. A few other bits and pieces
are referred to the taxon. The paper also tentatively recognizes two
spinosaurid groups, with longirostrine and brevirostrine muzzles. The
longirostrine group have relatively elongate premaxillae with no narial crest,
the brevirostrine group have short, rounded premaxillae drawn up into a narial
crest. _Cristatusaurus_ belongs to the latter group. Both groups have seven
premaxillary teeth, a diagnostic spinosaurid character.

The paper also finds several spinosaurid characters in the ornithomimosaurian
_Pelecanimimus_ and suggests that ornithomimids and spinosaurids may share a
fairly close common ancestor. Food for thought: Wouldn't it be interesting if
_Deinocheirus_, a problematic theropod that some think is closely related to
ornithomimids, turns out to be a spinosauroid of some kind?

Anyway, add

Cristatusaurus Taquet & D. A. Russell, 1998

as genus #833 to the Dinosaur Genera List.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Published within days of the SVP meeting was the volume accompanying the Lower
and Middle Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems Symposium, which took place in
Fruita, Colorado after the meeting:

Lucas, S. G., Kirkland, J. I, & Estep, J. W., eds., 1998. _Lower and Middle
Cretaceous Ecosystems_, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
_Bulletin_ #14: iv + 330 pp.

Several papers therein introduce new genera or formally describe genera that
had previously been published elsewhere as _nomina nuda_. Taking them in
order:

Bakker, R. T., 1998. "Dinosaur Mid-Life Crisis: The Jurassic-Cretaceous
Transition in Wyoming and Colorado," in Lucas, Kirkland, & Estep, J. W., eds.,
1998: 67?77.

Bakker argues, with considerable justification, that the species _Apatosaurus
yahnahpin_ Filla & Redman, 1994 should be removed from the genus _Apatosaurus_
into its own new genus, _Eobrontosaurus_, as its type species _Eobrontosaurus
yahnahpin_ (Filla & Redman, 1994) Bakker, 1998. He also argues, though
somewhat less persuasively, that the genus _Brontosaurus_ should not have been
sunk into _Apatosaurus_. Time will tell whether he's right. Meanwhile, add

Eobrontosaurus Bakker, 1998

as genus #834 to the Dinosaur Genera List.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Next,

Kirkland, J. I., Lucas, S. G. & Estep, J. W., 1998. "Cretaceous Dinosaurs of
the Colorado Plateau," in Lucas, Kirkland, & Estep, J. W., eds., 1998: 79?89.

lists the following two as yet undescribed species

"Anamantarx ramaljonesi" Carpenter, Kirkland, Burge & Bird (in press) and
"Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandi" Sullivan (in press)

among the Cretaceous dinosaurs of the Colorado Plateau. Both are
ankylosaurians, the former a nodosaurid, the latter an ankylosaurid. Thus we
must add the following genera as #835 and 836:

"Anamantarx" Carpenter, Kirkland, Burge & Bird vide Kirkland, Lucas & Estep,
1998 [nomen nudum]
"Nodocephalosaurus" Sullivan vide Kirkland, Lucas & Estep, 1998 [nomen nudum]

---------------------------------------------------------------

Then comes

Kirkland, J. I., Britt, B. B., Whittle, C. H., Madsen, S. K. & Burge, D. L.,
1998. "A Small Coelurosaurian Theropod from the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar
Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Barremian) of Eastern Utah," in Lucas,
Kirkland, & Estep, J. W., eds., 1998: 239?248.

This paper formally describes the genus and species _Nedcolbertia
justinhofmanni_, The title says it all. Inasmuch as the genus _Nedcolbertia_
has already appeared in print (with "type" species "Nedcolbertia whittlei"
[nomen nudum]), we merely update the listing in the Dinosaur Genera List to

Nedcolbertia Kirkland, Britt, Whittle, S. K. Madsen & Burge, 1998

---------------------------------------------------------------

Continuing the parade of newly described dinosaur genera from this remarkable
volume is

Kirkland, J. I., 1998. "A Polacanthine Ankylosaur (Ornithischia: Dinosauria)
>From the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of Eastern Utah," in Lucas, Kirkland, &
Estep, J. W., eds., 1998: 271?281.

which describes the genus and species _Gastonia burgei_. As with the
preceding, the generic name _Gastonia_ has appeared in print without formal
description, so it is merely amended to

Gastonia Kirkland, 1998

in the Dinosaur Genera List.

---------------------------------------------------------------

And we have another Kirkland paper,

Kirkland, J. I., 1998. "A New Hadrosaurid from the Upper Cedar Mountain
Formation (Albian?Cenomanian: Cretaceous) of Eastern Utah?the Oldest Known
Hadrosaurid (Lambeosaurine?)," in Lucas, Kirkland, & Estep, J. W., eds., 1998:
283?295.

This one describes the new genus and species _Eolambia caroljonesa_ (which
must be emended to _Eolambia caroljonesae_, with proper Latin feminine
possessive ending on species epithet). Also noted in this paper is a
previously published _nomen nudum_ for this taxon, "Eohadrosaurus
caroljonesi," which appeared in Kirkland's article on the Cedar Mountain
formation in Currie & Padian's dinosaur encyclopedia. I overlooked this name,
which is buried in the huge text of the volume, so two new genera must be
added to the Dinosaur Genera List, as #837 and 838:

"Eohadrosaurus" Kirkland, 1997
Eolambia Kirkland, 1998

Conveniently enough, they fall next to each other in the List.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The final novodinosauriferous paper in the volume is

Wolfe, D. G. & Kirkland, J. I., 1998. "_Zuniceratops christopheri_ N. Gen. &
N. Sp., a Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Moreno Hill Formation (Cretaceous,
Turonian) of West-Central New Mexico," in Lucas, Kirkland, & Estep, J. W.,
eds., 1998: 303?317.

Here again, the title says it all. _Zuniceratops_ was previously published as
a _nomen nudum_, and this paper formally describes the genus. So we change the
listing to:

Zuniceratops Wolfe & Kirkland, 1998

It's easy to find the listing; it's the last one in the List. The paper also
creates the new taxon Ceratopsomorpha (I would spell it Ceratopomorpha) within
Neoceratop[s]ia, for ceratopians with paired orbital brow horns.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The following paper,

Hunt, A. P., Lucas, S. G., Heckert, A. B., Sullivan, R. M. & Lockley, M. G.,
1998. "Late Triassic Dinosaurs from the western United States," _Geobios
31_(4): 511?531

features descriptions of two new dinosaurian genera and species, _Camposaurus
arizonensis_ and _Caseosaurus crosbyensis_. Both are known from fragmentary
but diagnostic material. The former is a primitive ceratosaurian, the latter a
herrerasaurian; both occur in the late Late Carnian, of Arizona and Texas,
respectively. The paper describes a diversity of Late Triassic dinosaurian
faunas with several as yet undescribed new taxa of herrerasaurians,
ornithischians, and sauropodomorphs.

Accordingly, add these genera to the Dinosaur Genera List as #839 and 840:

Camposaurus Hunt, Lucas, Heckert, Sullivan, & Lockley, 1998
Caseosaurus Hunt, Lucas, Heckert, Sullivan, & Lockley, 1998

---------------------------------------------------------------

Rumor from Great Britain has it that the historical genus _Suchosaurus_ Owen,
1841, generally classified as a crocodylian, is actually a spinosaurid,
perhaps related to (or even a senior synonym of!) _Baryonyx_. There are
several species in this genus, but it is the type species that seems to be
spinosaurid. Once this rumor is published, or is at least substantiated by an
appropriate personal communication, I'll add the genus to the Dinosaur Genera
List.

---------------------------------------------------------------

That's it, eight new genera! One of these days, I'll have to update the rest
of my Web site. Everything but the Dinosaur Genera List is now a year out of
date. I've just been too busy this year with non-paleo work to do this.

Web site is at

http://members.aol.com/Dinogeorge/index.html