Re: [dinosaur] Daliansaurus, new troodontid from Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China (free pdf)

[Tim Williams <tijawi@gmail.com>]

Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:

> I've been asked why this dinosaur was named for the city of Dalian when it
> was actually found some distance away near Beipiao City. My guess is that
> the name likely alludes to the Dalian Natural History Museum, Dalian,
> Liaoning, where the specimen (DNHM D2885) is curated.


That does make sense.   I guess the same is true of another theropod
named after the city of Dalian, the (controversial) taxon
_Dalianraptor_.  (On a historical note, Dalian used to be known as
Port Arthur.)

The authors erect a new clade of troodontids, the Sinovenatorinae.  At
last count, I have Troodontidae including four 'subfamilies':
Jinfengopteryginae, Anchiornithinae, Sinovenatorinae, and
Troodontinae.  However, the authors also note that future studies
might well find that some sinovenatorines may prove to be conspecific,
which has parallels to the situation with anchiornithines.