Megapnosaurus?

Spudley writes: "I was tempted to put this under the humor topic, but I guess it's best here in science. An entertaining article in USA Today tells of how a beetle expert arbitrarily changed the scientific name of a dinosaur from "Syntarsus" (Latin: "fused ankle") to "Megapnosaurus" (Latin: "big dead lizard"). Dinosaur experts are (understandably) kicking up quite a fuss about it."

Comments

Big "dead" lizard?

[jfengel]

My Greek is rusty, but "dead" would be "nekros". Is he going for "apnoi", "not breathing"? As in "big not-breathing lizard?"

Well, at least it's all Greek, rather than the usual Greek-Latin mush (e.g. tyrannosaurus).

Omnia Mihi Lingua Graeca Sunt.

Re:Big "dead" lizard?

[CaptainCarrot]

Yes, it's really "big breathless lizard", and it's Greek, not Latin as the article states.

But tyrannosaur isn't a "Greek-Latin mush". "Tyrannos" is Greek, although as "tyrannus" it was eventually taken up into Latin. But that was later, it was Greek first, and was famously applied to the absolute rulers of the Archaic period. Perhaps you're thinking of something like "australopithecus", which is Latin "australis", "southern" + Greek "pithekos", "ape.

The rules rule

[Anonymous Coward]

The rules rule and the entomologist has done what is expected of him. I have done the same thing and would do it again. The paleontologists were sloppy in not doing there homework first.

The codes for zoology and botany can be found at:

Zoology
http://www.iczn.org/code.htm
(older [1995] on-line draft at http://zeus.ruca.ua.ac.be/EvolutionaryBiology/coll /doc/iczn4txt.htm)

Botany
http://www.bgbm.org/iapt/nomenclature/co de/SaintLo uis/0000St.Luistitle.htm

and

http://www.ishs.org/ord/code.htm