Category Archives: Systematics

The Genus Question — Impact of New Archosaurian Binomina

Posted on August 6, 2012 by

So, what exactly would happen if — as I suggested both here and mentioned in the comments here — we went down that slippery slope, and distinguished all species as their own unique, equivalent taxa? How many new “genus”-like names … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Systematics, Taxonomy | Tagged , | 10 Comments

“You Keep Using That Word”

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

Behold another rant on nomenclature, posted on the Dinosaur Mailing List recently. I am slightly modifying it for consumption here.

Posted in Philosophy, Systematics, Taxonomy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

I Cannot Compel to Reason: Triceratops, We Done It Again

Posted on December 14, 2011 by

Earlier this year, Andy Farke took the opportunity of  a remodel to assess the skull of that classic of classic dinosaurs, Nedoceratops hatcheri. Formally named by Richard Swan Lull (completing a monograph that first OC Marsh had begun but uncompleted … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological Comparison, Paleontology, Philosophy, Science Reporting, Systematics, Taxonomy | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

New Domes, New Interpretations

Posted on August 26, 2011 by

Thanks to Bob Sullivan, many of his co-authored publications from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (NMNHS) Bulletin are now available online (which you can find here). I talked about one of them, naming new oviraptorosaurs Ojoraptorsaurus … Continue reading →

Posted in Paleontology, Science Reporting, Systematics, Taxonomy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Sabretooths Spread Thick and Thin

Posted on August 19, 2011 by

Some time back (about a year ago, in fact), I wrote about the hypothesis where Heterodontosaurus tucki, a small ornithischian from the Early Jurassic of southern Africa, might actually have been a basal marginocephalian, joining the ranks of blatant look-a-likes … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Paleontology, Philosophy, Reconstruction, Science Reporting, Systematics, Taxonomy | Tagged | 5 Comments

O Crest-less One

Posted on August 9, 2011 by

My brief forays into ornithischians is usually relegated to those heterodont taxa that are basal ornithopods and their ancestors (but not descendant thyreophorans, ceratopsians or pachycephalosaurs) because of the wonderful arrangement and oddity of their teeth. Once you get past … Continue reading →

Posted in Paleontology, Science Reporting, Systematics | Tagged , | 4 Comments

That Was Fun….

Posted on July 29, 2011 by

Apparently my Google-fu is good.

Posted in Paleontology, Philosophy, Systematics, Taxonomy | Tagged | Leave a comment

Systematic Originalism

Posted on March 11, 2011 by

On occasion, systematists feel the need to revise the taxonomy of various species, placing species into new genera, or lumping them in with other species in earlier-named genera. This is generally supported by phylogenetic analyses, but sometimes it involves an … Continue reading →

Posted in Paleontology, Philosophy, Systematics | Tagged , | 10 Comments