Re: Bellubrunnus, new Jurassic pterosaur from Germany

[Mike Keesey <keesey@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 7:38 PM, Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>   This is a great paper. The authors have really done a fantastic job setting 
> out all the possible issues with identifying this juvenile specimen as a new 
> taxon. While I remain adamantly opposed to the practice of making new 
> taxonomic nomenclature for juvenile taxa, given the often impossible task of 
> proving diagnostic comparative adult features, this paper has taken pains to 
> assure readers that several characteristics can only become exaggerated with 
> age, implying the adult would be MORE diagnostic than the juvenile. Despite 
> lacking any autapomorphic features, there is a diagnostic autapomorphic suite 
> of characters, and this is pretty nice.
>
> "Bellubrunna" -- should be "Bellibrunna," as "bellum" (pretty, beautiful) 
> combines as "belli-", not "bellu-".

("Bellubrunnus")

I'm guessing they were going off of Bellusaurus?

Fantastic specimen. Really glad they published in PLoS ONE, where, not
only can I see it, but I can see it in high resolution.

-- 
T. Michael Keesey
http://tmkeesey.net/