RE: Aliwalia and friends

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Adam Yates wrote:

> A new name would then be required for the large clade that is the sister 
> group of Plateosauridae.

How about "Brontosauria"?  _Brontosaurus_ may be gone, but at least the name 
could live on in another form.

While on the topic of prosauropods, David Marjanovic wrote:

> Is *P. longiceps* regarded as a separate species in this paper, as it is in 
> Galton's two-part monograph?

Moser (2003) disagrees with a lot of what Galton says.  For example, Moser 
sinks _P. longiceps_ into _P. engelhardti_.  Galton distinguished _P. 
engelhardti_ by the position of sacral rib 2, which Galton identied as being 
in the posterior 75% of the centrum of sacral vertebra 2 in _P. 
engelhardti_, but in the anterior 75% of the centrum of sacral vertebra 2 in 
_P. longiceps_.  However, according to Moser, Galton had the sacrum of _P. 
engelhardti_ backwards!  Thus, the position of sacral rib 2 is the same.  
Incidentally, this sacrum of _P. engelhardti_ was nominated by Moser to be 
the lectotype for the species.  _Dimodosaurus_ and _Pachysaurus_ are 
confirmed as junior synonyms of _Plateosaurus_, but as I said previously, 
Moser resurrected _Gresslyosaurus_.

Moser (2003) also disputes the use of the shape of the femoral shaft as a 
reliable diagnostic character.  He argues that the degree of sigmoidal 
curvature of the shaft is very prone to taphonomic distortion.

Cheers

Tim