Jaime and Rob,
Actually I like some of the "raptor" generic names and dislike others.
Velociraptor as "swift raptor" makes some sense (but not "raptor of swift
things", any more than Bambiraptor was meant to be a "raptor of Bambis"),
even if there were probably other raptors as swift or even swifter. Perhaps
they will eventually name a "Supervelocipator", just as I wouldn't be
surprised by a superlative attention-grabber like "Superseismosaurus".
Everybody wants their new dinosaur to be the fastest or the biggest, and so
we end up with nomenclatural arms races of sorts. [then there's Domain
"Archaea" which is so inappropriate that it may well be the butt of jokes
among future biologists].
Eoraptor makes some sense, since it was a relatively ancient form, but
I think some other name would have been more appropriate. I definitely do
NOT like the name Oviraptor, since there is no reason to believe they
snatched eggs at all, but we are stuck with it [unfortunately it is not a
junior synonym of anything, unlike "Archaea", which is a junior synonym of
both Metabacteria and Archaebacteria, although I think Metabacteria is the
most fitting name and proposed 11 years before the totally inappropraite
name "Archaea"). Utahraptor and Conchoraptor are probably okay, "raptor
of/from Utah" and "raptor of conched/shelled invertebrates", assuming that
was what they specialized in eating. But I must admit that I am a little
weary of certain endings, like -saurus, and -suchus, and -raptor is not far
behind.
So the only one I really dislike a lot among theropods is Oviraptor,
which is apparently very much a misnomer. Luckily, if I decide to dump
Oviraptoridae and Caenagnathidae into one larger family, Caenagnathidae
apparently has priority. Right now I am recognizing them as separate
families, but coelurosaur phylogeny is so unsettled, it's hard to know what
I will do when I present my first formal classification (as opposed to
preliminary "works in progress"). Still have a lot more work to do on
ornithischians before I will be doing that.
-----Ken
*******************************************************
From: "Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com> Reply-To: qilongia@yahoo.com To: dinosaur@usc.edu CC: rob_redwing@hotmail.com Subject: Re: New issue of JVP 2001(2) (semi-JOKE) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 19:27:26 -0700 (PDT)
Rob Gay (rob_redwing@hotmail.com) wrote:
<I personally dislike Anythingraptor. I was talking to someone about _Eoraptor_, and they asked if it was as mean as the "Raptors" from Jurassic Park. Gah...same thing with oviraptors and such.>
AW, this is what comes of people not taking terminology in context.
In Osborn's usage, -raptor was used to specifically infer the etymology "snatcher" -- thus, "egg snatcher" ... only in uses where the term is colloquial, as in *Velociraptor*, which certainly isn't the "snatcher of swift [things]" as the etymology implies, does the name seem to fail. It is used (as described) in the sense of a small predator.
Both *Oviraptor* and *Conchoraptor* are well formed constructs, whereas *Velociraptor* and *Utahraptor* are not except for their suggestion as a predator. A modifier to imply the nature of a predator (_praedator_ is a Latin word as well, mind, meaning a hunter, and I have a mind to use this name [in part] in reference to a certain small theropod...).
Please, don't confuse _Jurassic Park_ with the usefulness of the word "raptor" when used _right_.
===== Jaime A. Headden
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhr-gen-ti-na Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Pampas!!!!
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