Re: Spinosaurus questions and the presence of air=.

["T. Michael Keesey" <mightyodinn@yahoo.com>]

--- Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> According to Rauhut (2000), Huene explicitly attached the name _Altispinax _ 
> to the vertebrae.  Thus, the valid name of this tall-spined theropod is 
> _Altispinax altispinax_.
> 
> "However, Huene (1926a: pp. 482-483) stated: "There is another specimen from 
> the Wealden of Battle...consisting of three articulated middle dorsal 
> vertebrae, with extremely high neural spines. ...if it were certain that 
> such dorsal vertebrae belong to _Megalosaurus dunkeri_, it would be 
> necessary to put it into a distinct genus, for which the name _Altispinax_, 
> gen. nov., might be reserved.", and in 1932 (p. 235): "Three articulated 
> dorsal vertebrae with very elongated neural spines, figured by Owen (202, 
> Pl. 19), also seem to belong here; ...In 1926 ..., I based the genus 
> _Altispinax_ on these specimens." (my translation).

Is it possible to erect a genus without naming a type species? Or, I should
say, was it legitimate at that time?

If not, it seems to me that Altispinax is really nothing more than a nomen
nudum, and the proper name for the vertebrae is _Becklespinax altispinax_.



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