Troodon and other problems (was Andrew McDonald response re: European iguanodonts

[GSP1954@aol.com]

One of the things I was trying to do in the field guide was raise some of 
these taxanomic issues by not going along with the standard designations. To 
be frank I was shocked to see how bad the situation is with so many run of 
the mill taxa we use all the time with little thought. 

One good rule would be to no longer accept dinosaur teeth as holotypes, 
which does in Troodon. This would leave Stenonychosaurus inequalis as the best 
skeletal based species, not that the holotype of that is much to right home 
about either. The only skeletal remains that should be placed in the same 
species should be those that are from the same horizon, the rest should be S. 
sp. unless it becomes possible to either unite or distinguish them. 

It is not just a tooth problem. The holotype of Ornithomimus is extremely 
dubious at best. That of Struthiomimus is not great shakes either. All those 
taxa are sort of floating. There are the Mamenchisaurus and Omeisaurus 
messes. Diplodocus is a ticking time bomb. Don't get me started on some of the 
late Cret N Amer ankylosaurs. It's one thing after another. 

GSPaul</HTML>