Re: Magnapaulia, "new" lambeosaurine from Baja California, Mexico

[tyazbeck@comcast.net]

Good point. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen much anymore. Psittacosaurus 
species are more closely related than the hodge podge that Iguanodon covered 
until a few years ago. I think that splitting genera, whether the ranks have 
meaning or not, does increase the apparent diversity of a taxon, because we 
always see the genus name first.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matthew Martyniuk" <martyniuk@gmail.com>
To: tyazbeck@comcast.net
Cc: tijawi@gmail.com, dinosaur@usc.edu
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 9:01:53 AM
Subject: Re: Magnapaulia, "new" lambeosaurine from Baja California, Mexico

On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 1:06 AM,  <tyazbeck@comcast.net> wrote:
> I understand where you are coming from, but I think that the disproportionate 
> number of dinosaur genera is deceptive, that's all.

I'd argue the opposite--having genera with many included species is
deceptive for the average person. How many average science enthusiasts
know that "Psittacosaurus" is a category of animals containing dozens
of unique and distinct species? Including this diversity in the single
label "Psittacosaurus" effectively hides that diversity from everyone
but specialists.

Matt