Re: Syntarsus says farewell...

["David Marjanovic" <david.marjanovic@gmx.at>]

> Ten years
> from now people will read this name and smile, just like they do when they
> see _Eucritta melanolimnetes_

Well, all we can say for sure about its phylogenetic position, respectively
that of Baphetidae, respectively all basal tetrapod phylogeny, is that it is
a critter. I really like that name. :-)

> or _Ninjemys_.

When I was, say, 8 years old, all my friends adored the Ninja Turtles. It
was about time a turtle was named after them, just like *Montypythonoides*.
=8-)

> There are people (like me) who would like
> to see a little more humor in taxonomy. Or attempted humor, anyway. :)

I especially like *Stygimoloch*, named after Hell Creek, and
*Charonosaurus*, named after the Heilongjiang = Black Dragon River. I have
to find the website that lists funny Linnaean names.

> If you are reading anything more than a little joke into the name, well
that
> is your problem. If _Jack Horner_ can manage not to be annoyed with the
> name, so can you.

What I don't like about it is that dinosaurs just aren't lizards. I did
laugh when I read the etymology, and it's obviously a joke, but it's really
not nice to the dinosaur. :-} Of course I can't call for renaming 80 % of
all dinosaurs, and Dinosauria itself, but with new names there's at least
the chance not to let them end in -saurus.