Re: More pterosaur stuff (Kunpengopterus)

["T. Michael Keesey" <keesey@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 6:36 PM, Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> If you want bad (really bad) names, then look at Jibeiniaithidae and
> Jibeiniaithiformes, which appeared in a recent review of the Jehol
> biota (Zhou and Wang 2010; Sci. China Earth Sci. 53: 1894â1907). ÂHow
> anybody arrived at these names from _Jibeinia_ I'll never know.

GAH! Perhaps they assumed -ithidae was the suffix (Enantiornithidae,
Sinornithidae, Hesperornithidae, Ichthyornithidae, etc.).

It must be admitted that many of the rules make little sense to those
not familiar with the languages ("-ornis" becomes "-ornithidae" ...
why?). I can only imagine that to speakers of a language with
isolating grammar, like Mandarin, these rules of languages with
fusional grammar make even less sense. (English is somewhat isolating,
but not as much as Mandarin.)
-- 
T. Michael Keesey
Technical Consultant and Developer, Flex Specialist
Glendale, California
http://tmkeesey.net/