Re: Dinosaur a tecnical term; 3 specifically

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

William Parker wrote:

> Currently there technically is no such thing as a "revueltosaur".
> Hopefully, this will be fixed sometime soon with an analysis...

Yes, true.  Same for "silesaur".

This is the paper that got the ball rolling...

William G. Parker , Randall B. Irmis, Sterling J. Nesbitt , Jeffrey W. Martz 
, and Lori S. Browne (2005).  The Late Triassic pseudosuchian 
_Revueltosaurus callenderi_ and its
implications for the diversity of early ornithischian dinosaurs.  Proc. R. 
Soc. B 272: 963-969.

_Revueltosaurus_ is some form of suchian/crurotarsan.  Heckert (2005) argued 
that a second species (_Reveueltosaurus hunti_) might be a bona fide 
ornithischian, and erected the new genus _Krzyzanowskisaurus_.  But Irmis et 
al. (2006) put it back in _Revueltosaurus_, and referred osteoderms 
(previously assigned to _Stagonolepis_) to _R. hunti_.

Jamie Stearns wrote:

> Teratosaurus, as I recall, was thought to be a large Triassic theropod, but 
> was later found to be a
> chimera of Plateosaurus and something else.

As Tom mentioned, _Teratosaurus suevicus_ is based on a maxilla that was 
re-classified as a rauisuchian by Benton (1986).  However, you're right in 
saying that _Teratosaurus_ was a chimera.  Huene later referred other 
elements to this species, including detached teeth and associated 
postcranial bones, because the teeth were similar to those of the 
_Teratosaurus_ maxilla.

Walker (1964) suspected that the postcranial bones and maxilla/teeth did not 
go together, and suggested that the former came from a _Plateosaurus_-like 
dinosaur.  Nevertheless, the idea of a radiation of Late Triassic-Early 
Jurassic radiation of primitive carnosaurs called the 'Teratosauridae' 
persisted for another twenty-or-so years.

Other 'teratosaurids' included _Cladeiodon_, _Zanclodon_, _Zatomus_, 
_Aetonyx_, _Gryponyx_, _Palaeosaurus_, _Gresslyosaurus_, _Sinosaurus_ and 
_Orosaurus_.  Most 'teratosaurids' were based on detached teeth or jaws of 
carnivorous archosaurs, or prosauropod bones, or both mixed together.  Some 
are genuine theropods (_Sinosaurus triassicus_, _Zanclodon cambrensis_).

Cheers

Tim

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