Re: new sauropods: Amargatitanis and Nopcsaspondylus

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Jose Ignacio Ruiz-Omeñaca wrote:

> The geological formation where Amargatitanis comes, "La Amarga", is 
> feminine in spanish (and means "The Bitter one")
>
> > Nick Pharris <npharris@umich.edu> ha escrito:
> > >
> > AMARGATITANIS gen. nov. >
> >
> > Etymology: Amarga, referring the fossil locality; titanis (Greek), 
> titan, giant, because of the > affinities of the specimen with the 
> titanosaurs. >
> > Actually, *titanis* is specifically a female titan.

A Titaness, then?

I would guess, then, that the beastie was named "Amargatitanis" rather than 
"Amargatitan" in order to match the genders, as both "titanis" and "La 
Amarga" are feminine.  The same rationale was behind _Bonitasaura_ (rather 
than Bonitasaurus).  However, as Nick would say, there is no obligation for 
genders to match within a genus name, so "Amargatitan" would have worked 
too.  After all, we have  _Amargasaurus_ and _Laplatasaurus_, and La Plata 
(like La Bonita and La Amarga) is feminine.

Cheers

Tim

_________________________________________________________________
Local listings, incredible imagery, and driving directions - all in one 
place! http://maps.live.com/?wip=69&FORM=MGAC01