RE: Pegomastax, new heterodontosaurid from South Africa in new Sereno monograph (free pdf!)

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

Ben Creisler wrote:

<(NOTE: One glitch in the name : mastax "jaw" is feminine in Greek so the name 
should be Pegomastax africana to follow the letter of the rules.)>

  Theretically, yes; technically, no. And under the current rules of the ICZN 
(4th Edition), should one follow them, it is no longer necessary, or even 
mandatory, to alter the gender of an epithet to agree with the genus' epithet. 
This is a mistake that should have been caught by draft editing and review.

Cheers,

  Jaime A. Headden
  The Bite Stuff (site v2)
  http://qilong.wordpress.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a
different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race
has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or
his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion 
Backs)


----------------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2012 09:19:17 -0700
> From: bcreisler@gmail.com
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Pegomastax, new heterodontosaurid from South Africa in new Sereno 
> monograph (free pdf!)
>
> From: Ben Creisler
> bcreisler@gmail.com
>
> A new taxon in a new monograph at ZooKeys site. The pdf is free!
>
> Paul Sereno (2012)
> Taxonomy, morphology, masticatory function and phylogeny of
> heterodontosaurid dinosaurs.
> ZooKeys 224: 1-225.
> doi: 10.3897/zookeys.224.2840
> http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/article/2840/taxonomy-morphology-masticatory-function-and-phylogeny-of-heterodontosaurid-dinosaurs
>
>
> Heterodontosaurids comprise an important early radiation of
> small-bodied herbivores that persisted for approximately 100 My from
> Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous time. Review of available fossils
> unequivocally establishes Echinodon as a very small-bodied,
> late-surviving northern heterodontosaurid similar to the other
> northern genera Fruitadens and Tianyulong. Tianyulong from northern
> China has unusual skeletal proportions, including a relatively large
> skull, short forelimb, and long manual digit II. The southern African
> heterodontosaurid genus Lycorhinus is established as valid, and a new
> taxon from the same formation is named Pegomastax africanus gen. n.,
> sp. n. Tooth replacement and tooth-to-tooth wear is more common than
> previously thought among heterodontosaurids, and in Heterodontosaurus
> the angle of tooth-to-tooth shear is shown to increase markedly during
> maturation. Long-axis rotation of the lower jaw during occlusion is
> identified here as the most likely functional mechanism underlying
> marked tooth wear in mature specimens of Heterodontosaurus. Extensive
> tooth wear and other evidence suggests that all heterodontosaurids
> were predominantly or exclusively herbivores. Basal genera such as
> Echinodon, Fruitadens and Tianyulong with primitive, subtriangular
> crowns currently are known only from northern landmasses. All other
> genera except the enigmatic Pisanosaurus have deeper crown proportions
> and currently are known only from southern landmasses.
>
> new release with video:
> http://phys.org/news/2012-10-fanged-dwarf-dinosaur-southern-africa.html
>
> (NOTE: One glitch in the name : mastax "jaw" is feminine in Greek so
> the name should be Pegomastax africana to follow the letter of the
> rules.)