Re: Psittacosaurus "chaoyoungi"

["Mickey Mortimer" <Mickey_Mortimer111@msn.com>]

Jordan Mallon wrote-

> I've seen Psittacosaurus "chaoyoungi" listed as a nomen dubium, which
> implies that the species has a type assigned to it that is too incomplete
to
> affirm its validity or not (right?).  My question is if anyone knows what
> the type number is, if it does indeed exist.  Otherwise, I don't see what
is
> keeping P. "chaoyoungi" from being listed as a nomen nudum...

It's a nomen nudum that's appeared only in faunal lists.  Russell thinks it
may be Chaoyangsaurus, but who knows if this is merely due to the name or if
he has unpublished knowledge.  It could be anything from an early name for
the Chaoyangsaurus material to an actual species of Psittacosaurus that was
merely named similarly.  The specifics of the faunal list it was included in
could help resolve the situation.
I'd be surprised (though pleasently so) if Jaime's comment P. "chaoyoungi"
was renamed Chaoyangsaurus has definite data to back it up.

Mickey Mortimer
Undergraduate, Earth and Space Sciences
University of Washington
The Theropod Database - http://students.washington.edu/eoraptor/Home.html