Re: Therizinosauria Cladogram

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/11/02 11:14:37 PM EST, tmk@dinosauricon.com writes:

<< "Therizinosaurs include six described genera (_Alxasaurus_,
 _Enigmosaurus_, _Erlikosaurus_, _Nashiungosaurus_ [sic], _Segnosaurus_,
 and _Therizinosaurus_) of bipedal theropods ... Therezinosaurs [sic] may
 be described as the aforementioned taxa and all others closer to them than
 to oviraptorosaurs, ornithomimids, and troodontids."
 
 Could have been a bit better worded, maybe, but it's still a phylogenetic
 definition. None exist for Segnosauria. >>

Sigh--One of these days I'll just have to trawl that encyclopedia for new 
taxonomic names. Dale doesn't just use the name Therizinosauria, it's the 
>title< of his article!

Anyway, please note that in the first sentence Dale implicitly synonymizes 
Therizinosauria with Segnosauria when he opens with, "Until recently, little 
was known about therizinosaurs (segnosaurs)." So, for example, you may 
substitute "segnosaurs" for "therizinosaurs" everywhere in the article. 
Indeed, he could (and should) have done that very thing himself when he wrote 
the article, instead of creating the extraneous new name Therizinosauria for 
the taxon Segnosauria.

It's like something out of The Twilight Zone. "Segnosauria? What's 
Segnosauria? There's no such thing as Segnosauria." 
Dee-dee-da-da-dee-dee-da-da...