Colorful Coloradisaurus (was RE: your first paleo book was:)

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Justin Tweet wrote:


> Just checked my copy, and although it doesn't directly *state* that 
> *Coloradisaurus* is intended to replace 
> *Coloradia*, the index does have *Coloradia*=*Coloradisaurus*.


Yes, that's exactly what I recalled - thanks for the confirmation.  Because it 
was a popular dinosaur book (not a scientific text) there was no mention of 
"_Coloradisaurus_ Bonaparte", such that the genus could now be referred to as 
"_Coloradisaurus_ Bonaparte vide Lambert, 1983".  The book featured the name 
_Coloradisaurus_ in the main body of the book, and 
"_Coloradia_=_Coloradisaurus_ in the index at the back of the book.  The fact 
that _Coloradisaurus_ was intended as a replacement name for the preoccupied 
_Coloradia_ was never made explicit - because Lambert had assumed that it had 
already been officially re-named by Bonaparte.  Apparently, it was an innocent 
mistake on Lambert's part.  


This is from Lambert himself (though it's second-hand, so I can't personally 
vouch for its accuracy)...

(http://www.wordquests.info/cgi/ice2-for.cgi?file=/hsphere/local/home/scribejo/wordquests.info/htm/L-Gk-sauro-B-C.htm&HIGHLIGHT=sauro)


<>


Overall, this seems to be correct, except that: (a) Olshevsky's list is perhaps 
not the best arbiter of a genus's validity (it's been wrong before); and on a 
purely pedantic note, (b) _Coloradia_ Blake, 1863 is a genus of moth, not 
beetle. 


David Marjanovic wrote:


> Really? Does he make clear enough that it's a replacement name for
> *Coloradia* Bonaparte? 


No.  (See above.)   _Coloradisaurus_ Lambert appears to meet ICZN criteria (or 
at least it doesn't contravene Article 60 of the Code).  Further, if you're 
implying that David Lambert didn't actually officially re-name _Coloradia_, he 
would seem to agree with you on that point, based on the above quote.  But the 
fact that Lambert didn't *intend* to erect the name _Coloradisaurus_ has no 
bearing on this situation; he named it nonetheless.  In any case, the 
attribution of the name _Coloradisaurus_ to Lambert appears to have 'stuck', 
and I'm not aware of any attempt to overturn the name (by Bonaparte, or anyone 
else) in the past 25 years.  It'd be interesting to know who was the first 
reviewer in this case.


Cheers

Tim
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