Re: Sarcosuchus

["João S. Lopes Filho" <jodan99@uol.com.br>]

The cases are slightly different. Pterosaurs were never considered
dinosaurs, since past centuries. To call a pterosaur da dinosaurs is based
on the popular wrong notion that every extinct big reptile (and even animal)
was a dinosaur.
The difference between crocodylian and pholidosaur is different, because
based in complex cladistic concepts, and relatively modern. So, if a
jornalist call Sarcosuchus a croc, it's not a mistake like calling
pterosaurs dinosaurs. Besides this, we must remember that cladistic
definition are allways changing. Remember  pandas as ursids or procyonids
and the great amount of studies that suported the different points of view.
Pandas were classified originally as ursids; this became an obsolete view
and they are transferred to procyonids; this changed again and now pandas
are agriothere ursids.
Being an amateur, much of my updated information (when I was kid, before I
know paleontological magazines in university libraries) came from
newspapers. And it was so boring the ridiculous mistakes so common in
newspapers articles, like to call a litoptern as a "ancestor of the horse",
or to call Brazilian Titanosaurus Tyrannosaurs. It's a problem of
communications, because scientists usually dont know how to explain their
discoveries easily, and jornalist usually dont know nothing about
Paleontology. It's important to build a good bridge between them, to make
sure the information reach the people.

----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>
To: <christopher-brochu@uiowa.edu>; <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2001 10:30 AM
Subject: RE: Sarcosuchus


> > From: owner-dinosaur@usc.edu [mailto:owner-dinosaur@usc.edu]On Behalf Of
> > chris brochu
> >
> > >> I'm actually rather disappointed in the coverage this is getting, as
> > >> Sarcosuchus is not a crocodylian at all.  It's probably a
> > >> pholidosaur, which means it's a "mesosuchian"-grade crocodyliform,
> > >> but it lies outside Crocodylia.
> >
> > >Its name means "imperial flesh _crocodile_"...
>
> So _Basilosaurus_ is a member of Squamata? :-)
>
> > >Project Exploration's official website for it is "SuperCroc.com"...
> > >
> > >One can hardly blame the news media when the _official
> > expedition website_
> > >and _official press release_ have things like "world record for
> > a croc" and
> > >"hyper giant crocodiles" plastered all over them.
> >
> > "croc" could be an abbreviation for "crocodile,"
"crocodylian/crocodilian"
> > (since these terms sound identical when spoken, they should be regarded
as
> > the same), "crocodyliform," "crocodylomorph," "Crocodylus," or anything
> > else beginning with "croc".
> >
> > And I DO blame the news media, because I know for a fact that many of us
> > tried to explain patiently to some of these groups that Sarcosuchus is
not
> > a crocodylian/crocodilian, but a very close relative of them (something
> > called a "crocodyliform.")  They decided that the public would
> > simply never
> > get it - something I also know for a fact is bunk.
> >
>
> To put this into an taxonomically-equivalent situation: nearly everybody
on
> the list would be complaining if the news talked about a (hypothetical!!)
> newly discovered 15 m wingspan azhdarchid pterosaur as the "largest flying
> dinosaur".  Similarly, if a newly discovered (hypothetical!!) 3-horned
> titanothere was discovered, we would (rightfully) complain if the media
> reported it as a 3-horned rhinoceros.
>
> Calling a pholidosaur a crocodilian/crocodylian is analogous to calling a
> pterosaur a dinosaur or a titanothere a rhino: sure, they are close
> relatives (okay, maybe less secure in the case of the pterosaur-dinosaur
> relationship), but they aren't the same things.
>
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Vertebrate Paleontologist
> Department of Geology Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
> University of Maryland College Park Scholars
> College Park, MD  20742
> http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/tholtz.htm
> http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
> Phone: 301-405-4084 Email: tholtz@geol.umd.edu
> Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661 Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796
>