Dinosaur Genera List corrections #172

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

By a peculiar coincidence, two new dinosaurs are described in the latest 
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, and both belong to the comparatively rare 
group Therizinosauroidea (=Segnosauria) of Theropoda. Here are the citations:

Kirkland, James I. & Wolfe, Douglas G., 2001. "First definitive 
therizinosaurid (Dinosauria; Theropoda) from North America," Journal of 
Vertebrate Paleontology 21(3): 410â414 [August 22, 2001].

The new genus and species are Nothronychus mckinleyi, from the Moreno Hill 
Formation, Upper Cretaceous (middle Turonian) of the southern Zuni Basin, New 
Mexico. Other dinosaurs from this horizon include the horned dinosaur 
Zuniceratops christopheri as well as unnamed hadrosaurs, nodosaurids, and a 
"basal coelurosaur."

Nothronychus is already in the Dinosaur Genera List as a nomen nudum; this 
paper makes it a formally described genus. So the entry changes to

Nothronychus Kirkland & Wolfe, 2001

The entry for this genus in the forthcoming Mesozoic Meanderings #3 second 
printing changes to

Nothronychus Kirkland & Wolfe, 2001
    = Nothronychus Wolfe & Kirkland vide Stanley, 2001 [nomen nudum]
    N. mckinleyi Kirkland & Wolfe, 2001â
        = Nothronychus mckinleyi Wolfe & Kirkland vide Stanley, 2001 [nomen 
nudum]â
NOTE: The names of this genus and species of therizinosauroid first appeared 
in Arizona Republic for June 19, 2001 (R. E. Molnar, pers. comm.). They were 
subsequently (August 22, 2001) formally described in Journal of Vertebrate 
Paleontology 21(3).

Further along in the issue is the paper

Xu, Xing, Zhao, Xijin & Clark, James M., 2001. "A new therizinosaur from the 
Lower Jurassic lower Lufeng Formation of Yunnan, China," Journal of 
Vertebrate Paleontology 21(3): 477â483 [August 22, 2001].

This paper redescribes the enigmatic mandible previously described by Zhao 
and Xu in Nature 394: 234â235 as an Early Jurassic therizinosaur, but without 
a formal name.

So we add genus #920 to the Dinosaur Genera List:

Eshanosaurus Xu, Zhao & Clark, 2001

and its entry in the forthcoming Mesozoic Meanderings #3 second printing 
becomes

Eshanosaurus Xu, Zhao & Clark, 2001
    E. deguchiianus Xu, Zhao & Clark, 2001â

The generic name comes from Eshan County, Yunnan, where the specimen was 
discovered (lower part of Lower Lufeng Formation, Hettangian, Early 
Jurassic). The etymology of the species name as given in the paper is to 
honor "Hikaru Deguchiianus" for his support and encouragement to author Xu 
Xing, but I think this may be a misspelling, perhaps for Hikaru Deguchi. Am I 
wrong?

A substantial phyletic analysis demonstrates the therizinosauroid nature of 
the mandible versus prosauropods and basal ornithischians, leaving 
practically no doubt of its systematic position.

The Dinosaur Genera List appears at my website

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

The tidal wave of new third-millennium dinosaurs continues.