Re: AW: The cladogram from the supp. inf. of the *Anchiornis* paper

[Tim Williams <tijawi@yahoo.com>]

David Marjanovic <david.marjanovic@gmx.at> wrote:


> I mean that the authors evidently think that 1)
> *Jeholornis* and *Shenzhouraptor* are synonyms, which
> appears highly likely to me, and 2) *Jeholornis* has
> priority, which is rather surprising as far as I can tell.


AFAIK, the first paper to formally sink _Shenzhouraptor_ into _Jeholornis_ was 
Zhou and Zhang (2006):


"Two junior synonyms of _Jeholornis prima_ were proposed in the past based on 
different specimens of _Jeholornis_.  One is _Shenzhouraptor_ (Ji et al., 
2002b), published in the same month (July 2002) as _Jeholornis_, but the 
Chinese Geological Science Bulletin that published the name is a monthly 
journal, therefore _Jeholornis_, which was published in the weekly journal 
Nature (25 July 2002), according to international nomenclature rule [sic], 
clearly has the priority."  

(The other junior synonym is _Jixiangornis orientalis_: "...but like 
_Shenzhouraptor_, it possesses no obvious differences from _Jeholoris prima_.")


Zhou Z.-H. & Zhang F.-C. (2006). Mesozoic birds of China: a synoptic review.  
Vertebrata PalAsiatica 44: 74-98. 


I don't know if their assertion regarding weekly vs monthly publications has a 
sound basis in the Code.  In any case, the practice of regarding _Jeholornis_ 
as having priority over _Shenzhouraptor_ has been followed fairly consistently 
in the literature.


> All these "long-tailed birds" (*Jixiangornis* and
> *Dalianraptor* included) need to be redescribed


Agreed.  And _Yandangornis_ too.



Cheers

Tim