Re: Archaeoraptor and trhe ICZN

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/1/01 10:49:42 AM EST, KCarpenter@dmns.org writes:

<< Can anyone verify the comment below about Storrs Olson making 
Archaeoraptor a valid taxon? I have not seen the publication, Backbone, in 
question.  >>

Here is the relevant text from Olson 2000 (p. 3): "The panel [of concerned 
paleontologists] met in Nick Hotton's old office in Paleobiology later that 
morning (not at the National Geographic building as reported in Science and 
the Post), and after careful examination of the specimens and associated 
photographs and other documents, unanimously concluded that the specimen of 
_Archaeoraptor_ is indeed a composite, most of the skeleton being that of a 
bird. The five pieces of shale containing the bones of the tail of a small 
dromaeosaur associated with this composite specimen are definitely the 
counterparts of the tail of dromaeosaur specimen V 12330 of the Chinese 
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and I here 
designate them as the lectotype of _Archaeoraptor liaoningensis_ Sloan. This 
means that the name now goes with the dinosaur and may be expunged from the 
literature of avian paleontology. The truly avian portions of the composite 
may now be described and named properly."