New Guide to Plesiosaurs

[bh480@scn.org (Ben Creisler)]

To: dinosaur@usc.edu
From: Ben Creisler (bh480@scn.org)
Subject: New Guide to Plesiosaurs

Jeff Poling has posted my guide to plesiosaur names on
his Dinosaur On-line website in the Translation and
Pronunciation Guide section of the Omnipedia.  It provides
basic information on currently recognized genera and
valid species, including etymologies, some historical
background, holotypes (when available) and other facts.
I've tried to clear up some recent taxonomic problems
such as the status of Trinacromerum bonneri (a junior
synonym of Dolichorhynchops osborni) and the holotype
for Eretmosaurus (incorrect in Benton and Spencer's 1995
British Reptiles).  I need to add a section to the introduction
about plesiosaur biology, but I'm waiting to see Darren
Naish's forthcoming article in BBC Wildlife about the topic,
which should be a great help. Also, any corrections or
suggestions for improvements would be appreciated.

Also nearing completion are similar guides to the Ichthyosauria
and the Mosasauridae. One of these days I need to thoroughly
revise my guide to Mesozoic Aves--if I can track down a copy
of Hou's book on Chinese birds!  In fact, I hope to redo ALL my
name guides in the Omnipedia to include recognized species
for all valid generic names. Also in the works are Mesozoic
crocodiles and the Synapsida.

By the way, misunderstood etymologies abound for mammal-like reptiles!
Example: Edaphosaurus boanerges (subject of article in June JVP)
The name means "pavement (tooth) lizard vociferous orator"--
Cope wanted the generic name understood as "pavement
lizard" (Greek edaphos could mean a pavement) for the critter's
"dental pavement" (Cope's term for the tooth plates). The misreadings
"earth lizard" or "ship lizard" keep getting repeated in popular
books and websites as the supposed meaning of Edaphosaurus
but don't fit the historical evidence.

Romer's species name boanerges is a joke on the holotype.
Romer established the species based on rami of a lower jaw
that were too small for the restored skull (taken from the
species Edaphosaurus cruciger) on a mounted skeleton
in the Harvard collection. After noticing the discrepancy,
Romer concluded the real skull "was much smaller than had
been thought...The animal was thus extremely microcephalic."
Boanerges "sons of tumult" (plural) in the Bible were two brothers
famous for their thunderous preaching--used as a singular, boanerges
means "a vociferous orator or preacher," thus the ironic species
name based on the undersized lower jaw!