Re: Dinosaur Genera List corrections #154

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/1/01 6:05:02 PM EST, twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com writes:

<< _Archaeoraptor_ may no longer be a _nomen nudum_, but is it necessarily a 
 valid genus?  What diagnostic characters does Storrs Olson provide for the 
 caudal series IVPP V 12330 of _Archaeoraptor liaoningensis_?  If the caudal 
 vertebrae show no diagnostic characters below the level of Dromaeosauridae 
 or Maniraptora, then _Archaeoraptor liaoningensis_ may be dismissed as a 
 _nomen vanum_. >>

Not quite. This might have worked if Archaeoraptor had been attached to any 
old dromaeosaurid tail, but it wasn't. You see, since they share the same 
type specimen, the description of Microraptor automatically becomes part of 
the description of Archaeoraptor. Archaeoraptor is a senior objective synonym 
of Microraptor and is as well defined as Microraptor is.