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Re: Suuwassea Press Release

Mike Taylor wrote:

_Supersaurus_ itself is trembling on the brink, having been
tentatively synonymised with _Barosaurus_ in a published abstract
(Curtice 2003).  He does get around, doesn't he?  Curtice seems to be
on a person crusade to eradicate _all_ Morrison dilodocids :-)  How
far will he go?

Brian's taxonomic overhaul of the Dry Mesa sauropods (_Ultra_, _Super_, _Dystylo_) was the result of his thorough examination of the material. I don't think anyone doubts that his sinking of _Ultra_ (and probably _Dystylo_) into _Super_ was justified. Not that Mike was implying otherwise... :-)

The sinking of _Cathetosaurus lewisi_ into _Camarasaurus_ was done by Miller, McIntosh, Stadtman and Gillette (1992).

The haul of valid (or provisionally valid) Morrison sauropod genera is still impressive: _Haplocanthosaurus_, _Suuwassea_, _Eobrontosaurus_, _Apatosaurus_, _Diplodocus_, _Barosaurus_, _Supersaurus_, _Seismosaurus_, _Amphicoelias_, _Camarasaurus_, _Brachiosaurus_, ?_Dyslocosaurus_ (Lance?). _Dystrophaeus_ may be valid, and _"Apatosaurus" minimus_ may warrant a new genus (it might even be a titanosaur!). All Morrison sauropod genera are endemic to North America, if the Tendaguru taxa _Giraffatitan_ and _Tornieria_ are considered separate from Morrison _Brachiosaurus_ and _Barosaurus_ (as they probably should be).

Bakker tried valiantly to resurrect _Brontosaurus_ as a valid genus distinct from _Apatosaurus_; but this particular revision seems to have gone over like a lead balloon. Bakker (1988) mentioned a skull (TATE 099) that is sufficiently different from the skull of _A. louisae_ to belong in a different genus. TATE 099 was referred to _Brontosaurus excelsus_ by Bakker (who used it to justify splitting _Bronto_ of from _Apato_), although the basis for this referral is not at all clear from the article.



Tim

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