Dinosaur Genera List corrections #169

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

It seems the case for including Shuvosaurus within Theropoda is not quite 
closed yet(!). Andy Heckert replied to DGL corrections #168 with the 
following (slightly edited):

"Hunt et al., 1998, Late Triassic Dinosaurs from the Western United States: 
Geobios 31(4): 511-531, briefly discuss Shuvosaurus, noting that, at the time 
of writing, there was no evidence that Shuvosaurus was a dinosaur, let alone 
an ornithomimosaur. Please note what we said on p. 520:

"`Supposed ornithomimosaurian characters are unconvincing due to poor 
preservation of the holotype skull. The edentulous nature of the jaws is 
[would be] surprising [if it really is an ornithomimosaur], because the most 
plesiomorphic ornithomimosaur (Pelecanimimus), which is 100 million years 
younger than Shuvosaurus, retains small teeth (Perez-Moreno et al., 1994; 
Barsbold & Osmoska, 1990).'

"Furthermore, Hunt (2001, in New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook, due out 
in latest September), comments on "Shuvosaurus"/"Chatterjeea" material from 
the Bull Canyon Formation in eastern New Mexico and the nomenclatural 
problems that have arisen.

"All in all, I remain unconvinced that Shuvosaurus is a dinosaur, and 
absolutely unconvinced that it is an ornithomimosaur."

So I have added a notation to the Shuvosaurus listing to the effect that the 
dinosaurian status of the genus is still being debated.

Next, Ben Creisler writes (slightly edited):

"Here's the abstract of a new paper about the first nodosaur from China from 
the July issue of Naturwissenschaften. Can't recall seeing this posted in the 
Mailing List.

"Die Naturwissenshaften: Volume 88 Issue 7 (2001) pp 297-300 
short communication: A juvenile ankylosaur from China
Xing Xu, Xiao-Lin Wang, Hai-Lu You
Received: 10 February 2001 / Accepted in revised form: 21 
April 2001 / Published online: 23 June 2001
Abstract. Juvenile ankylosaur specimens are very rare. A 
new ankylosaur, Liaoningosaurus paradoxus gen. et sp. 
nov., is described based on a beautifully preserved 
juvenile ankylosaur specimen from the famous Yixian 
Formation of Liaoning, China. Liaoningosaurus has a large 
bony plate (somewhat shell-like) shielding the abdomen. 
This discovery represents the first record of such a 
structure among dinosaurs. Although it has a number of 
distinct features seen in the family Ankylosauridae, a 
cladistic analysis placed Liaoningosaurus in the sister-
family Nodosauridae. The 'intermediate' status of this 
taxon between the two ankylosaur families further supports 
the monophyly of Ankylosauria. This finding also documents 
the smallest known ankylosaur specimen and first complete 
nodosaurid specimen from Asia."

So we add as genus #917:

Liaoningosaurus Xu, Wang & You, 2001

and to the Asiatic dinosaur list in the forthcoming Mesozoic Meanderings #3 
second printing

Liaoningosaurus Xu, Wang & You, 2001
    L. paradoxus Xu, Wang & You, 2001â

As usual, the Dinosaur Genera List is at

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

I enjoyed the plug the Genera List received in the dinosaur article in the 
July 18, 2001 issue of USAToday. Traffic at my home page more than doubled on 
that date and is still running at about double the pre-plug rate.