Re: 'YIANXIANOSAURUS' [sic]

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

Darren Naish (darren.naish@port.ac.uk) wrote:

<There is a typo in Xu & Wang's new paper on _Yixianosaurus_ which means
that a 'new' generic name has been created. Both the captions to Fig. 1
(p. 197) and Fig. 2 (p. 198) use the name _Yianxianosaurus_ [sic]. Because
 _Yixianosaurus_ is used on p. 196 this isn't a problem but I wonder if it
really is just a typo or the name the author's originally intended to
use.>

  This is a typo; the etymology listed for the taxon shows the name was
derived from Yixian County, Liaoning, so it is not likely the "yianxiano"
is a considered name for this taxon.

<As the authors note (p. 199) the bowed shaped of the right radius may be
preservational.>

  Since few birds anyway seem to have a strongly bowed radius, and nor do
other taxa, this does seem peculiar and something worth a second look.
However, though Yixian fossils are incredible preservation-wise on the
score of most lagerstätten, the bone preservation is terrible in that much
of the material is fractured and crushed extensively. Oh well, it looks
good anyway!

  Cheers,

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)

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