Re: Doing an "Ultraraptor"

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

Simon Clabby (dinowight@yahoo.co.uk) wrote:

<I was wondering, has any genus or species of dinosaur
(T-rex/"Ultraraptor" excluded, for obvious reasons) or, indeed, any other
animal or plant,  had it's name changed for reasons other than synonymity
or homonymity (are those words? they are now!) I remember hearing that
Bakker wanted to call a hadrosaur Ed, but couldn't. Anybody know why?>

  Well, there was *Coelophysis* which was "changed" to *Rioarribasaurus*
because the type was considered "weak" or "crap," until some others
re-petitioned the ICZN to reinstitute *Coelophysis* for what has been made
the holotype of *Rioarribasaurus,* designating that specimen as the
neotype of *Coelophysis.*

  Some specific or generic names have been changed because of issues of
gender between the two names: *Stegoceras validus* became *S. validum,*
and there are a few more examples of this in dinosaurs alone, but there
are more examples outside of them. Also, *Iguanodon anglicum/anglicus,*
etc.

  *Kentrosaurus* was consistered "too similar" to *Centrosaurus* (despite
being spelled differently, they were pronounced identically), so we got
*Kentrurosaurus* (Kentro was named second). Oddly enough, their names mean
the exact same thing and have the same meaning, _kentron_ being Greek for
the spike or spur in the center of a shield, but the spelling was
"softened" for use as a Latin combination, just as _sauros_ was changed to
_saurus_. This is the only example I know of where a name was changed due
to homophony. The current prevailing pronounciation of *Centrosaurus*
follows this softening (SEN-tro-SAWR-us), so the homophony is not so
apparent, but as in saying "pachyKEPHalosaurs," Greek has no soft "C," and
use of the "C" approximates Latin's "S."

  Bakker can call anything he wants "Ed" as a genus (or species). There is
a bat named "Ia io,* so I certainly cannot see why not. Under the ICZN,
the only restrictions are that it consist of at least _two_ letters and be
pronouncable. This is how entomologists get away with some really dumb,
sick stuff.

  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)


                
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail