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Re[2]: Dinosauria---Rejected Name?
Friday, February 22, 2002, 6:49:17 PM, NJPharris@aol.com wrote:
Nac> Wouldn't bother me. I've never thought Dinosauria was a particularly
Nac> appropriate name, seeing as how it includes birds and a whole bunch of
other
Nac> non-terrible-lizardy things.
Also because of all the connotations in our culture of "dinosaur"
meaning something that is cumbersome, pea-brained, or outmoded.
Nac> There have been a number of replacement names
Nac> floated; my personal pick is Ornithopsida, a stem-based taxon anchored on
Nac> modern birds.
*That* will give the ornithologists something to talk about!
Nac> I didn't say they had to dump them, rather that they should be given
Nac> apomorphy-based definitions, where the names refer to apomorphies of the
Nac> group (note that this is not the case with Dinosauria: it's a totally
Nac> arbitrary matter when a "lizard" becomes "terrible").
In my own mind I've convinced myself that "terrible lizard" means that
they were terrible at being lizards! ("Oh no, my dear, I'm a very
good dinosaur, just a very bad lizard!")
--
Dave