Contrary to the abstract, Johnson et al. found Steneosaurus rostromajor to be a valid senior synonym of S. edwardsi. But since they "believe that establishing teleosauroid taxonomy from the beginning with a series of ‘clean’ type species/specimens,
with every nomenclatural act correctly formulated, is the best course of action", they don't want to keep a species based on a damaged rostrum. So they dump it in favor of whatever new nomenclature Johnson developed in her thesis. Completely antithetical
to how I think taxon revision should happen.
It's just sad, especially after all the great work the authors do recounting the history, establishing the lectotype and comparing it to other specimens.
Mickey Mortimer
From: dinosaur-l-request@mymaillists.usc.edu <dinosaur-l-request@mymaillists.usc.edu> on behalf of Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2020 7:23 AM
To: dinosaur-l@usc.edu <dinosaur-l@usc.edu>
Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Steneosaurus (Jurassic crocodylomorph) revised with new lectotype
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2020 7:23 AM
To: dinosaur-l@usc.edu <dinosaur-l@usc.edu>
Subject: Re: [dinosaur] Steneosaurus (Jurassic crocodylomorph) revised with new lectotype
The official final version of the paper is now free:
Free pdf:
Michela M. Johnson, Mark T. Young & Stephen L Brusatte (2020)
Emptying the wastebasket: a historical and taxonomic revision of the Jurassic crocodylomorph Steneosaurus.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 189(2): 428-448 (zlaa027)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa027
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa027/5818989
Emptying the wastebasket: a historical and taxonomic revision of the Jurassic crocodylomorph Steneosaurus.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 189(2): 428-448 (zlaa027)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa027
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa027/5818989
On Sat, Apr 11, 2020 at 8:45 AM Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
Ben Creisler
A new paper:
Michela M. Johnson, Mark T. Young & Stephen L Brusatte (2020)
Emptying the wastebasket: a historical and taxonomic revision of the Jurassic crocodylomorph Steneosaurus.
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlaa027
doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa027
https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa027/5818989
Teleosauroidea is a clade of ancient crocodylomorphs that were integral components of coastal marine environments throughout the Jurassic. For nearly two centuries, one of the most familiar genera of teleosauroids has been Steneosaurus, encompassing nearly every teleosauroid species at some point. However, no type species has been designated for Steneosaurus under ICZN Code rules; the type specimen of the presumed type species S. rostromajor Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1825 (MNHN.RJN 134c-d) is a chimera that has been largely neglected in the literature. Moreover, there is confusion as to which teleosauroid species it pertains to, and the genus Steneosaurus is often recovered as paraphyletic or polyphyletic in phylogenetic analyses. As such, the validity of Steneosaurus is uncertain. Here we formally designate S. rostromajor as the type species of Steneosaurus, designate a lectotype and re-evaluate MNHN.RJN 134c-d. We compare it with several well-known teleosauroids, including Lemmysuchus and 'S.' edwardsi. Due to lack of autapomorphic characters, poor preservation and a tortured taxonomic history, we find MNHN.RJN 134c-d to be an undiagnostic and unreliable specimen. Thus, we consider S. rostromajor as a nomen dubium and propose that the genus Steneosaurus is undiagnostic. This has profound implications for teleosauroid phylogenetics, which we will clarify in an upcoming paper.
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