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I generally refrain from commenting on this list, as the language and tone can sometimes be more akin to a barroom exchange than a scientific forum. However, I am commenting here because this concerns years of work by a PhD student that is about to be published.
It is deeply concerning to see (echoing what others have noted in several recent threads) what appears to be taxonomic vandalism being carried out on an almost daily basis by Gregory Paul, Franco Sancarlo, and others.
With specific regard to this paper, in addition to the excellent points already articulated clearly here (e.g., by Amber), there are many further issues that I will not detail publicly so as not to pre-empt our in-press work. That said, the lack of key details, meaningful comparisons, quantitative testing, and the reliance on speculative reconstructions and unsupported assertions are troubling. This kind of irresponsible practice undermines the careful work of those who are trying to do rigorous taxonomy and invites a flood of poorly argued, poorly edited, and poorly reviewed claims into the literature.
Even setting aside those methodological concerns, our own work took great care to show respect not only for the community of iguanodontian workers grounded in first-hand observations of the material, transparently documented, but also, and most importantly, for our Iberian colleagues, who—rightfully—should have priority in ultimately naming material from their region that we are systematically studying and that, when and if warranted, deserves a new epithet.
I will keep this brief, but I urge Franco Sancarlo, Gregory Paul, and others engaging in this approach to consider the damage this causes to the science and to the community, and to stop this practice immediately.
Best
regards,
Alessandro Chiarenza
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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tho...@umd.edu Phone: 301-405-4084
Principal Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Office: CHEM 1225B, 8051 Regents Dr., College Park MD 20742
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Phone: 301-405-6965
Fax: 301-314-9661
Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
Office: Centreville 1216, 4243 Valley Dr., College Park MD 20742
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843
Mailing Address:
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Department of Geology
Building 237, Room 1117
8000 Regents Drive
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4211 USA
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Dear friends,
I was the PI for the projects that developed the excavation, preparation, and research of the ornithopod from San Cristóbal 4 (SC-4, Galve, Teruel, Spain), and director of the team from the Fundación Conjunto Paleontológico de Teruel-Dinópolis (FCPTD) and the Museo Aragonés de Paleontología (MAP) until mid-2021. During that period, the young student F.J. Verdú led the research on Iguanodon galvensis, and the work was later continued under the leadership of another young researcher, J. García-Cobeña. The former obtained his PhD in 2017 (University of Valencia), precisely for his study of I. galvensis fossils, and the latter in 2025 (Complutense University of Madrid).
Given the numerous messages posted on this list about this taxon, I think it is appropriate to share the following comments.
1. The study of the ornithopod from SC-4 is part of the FCPTD's regular activities, as is the case with other ornithopods, as demonstrated by the recently published description of a new genus and species from another site in Teruel. There are a number of publications on Iguanodon galvensis, one of which dates back only a year. So who decides when the study of a material is complete? After one, two, three... publications? If it is the subject of ongoing and recent attention by a team, is it so difficult to interpret that it is part of their current activity?
García-Cobeña, J.; Verdú, F.J.; Cobos, A. Systematic of a Massively Constructed Specimen of Iguanodon galvensis (Ornithopoda, Iguanodontidae) from the Early Barremian (Early Cretaceous) of Eastern Spain. Diversity, 2024, 16, 586.
García-Cobeña, J.; Verdú, F.J.; Cobos, A. Abundance of large ornithopod dinosaurs in the El Castellar Formation (Hauterivian–Barremian, Lower Cretaceous) of the Peñagolosa sub-basin (Teruel, Spain). J. Iber. Geol. 2022, 48, 107–127
Verdú, F.J.; Cobos, A.; Royo-Torres, R.; Alcalá, L. Diversity of large ornithopod dinosaurs in the Upper Hauterivian-Lower Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Teruel (Spain): A morphometric approach. Span. J. Palaeontol. 2021, 34, 269–288.
Verdú, F.J.; Royo-Torres, R.; Cobos, A.; Alcalá, L. Systematics and paleobiology of a new articulated axial specimen referred to Iguanodon cf. galvensis (Ornithopoda, Iguanodontoidea). J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 2020, 40, e1878202.
Verdú, F.J.; Royo-Torres, R.; Cobos, A.; Alcalá, L. New systematic and phylogenetic data about the early Barremian Iguanodon galvensis (Ornithopoda: Iguanodontoidea) from Spain. Historical Biol. 2018, 30, 437–474.
Verdú, F.J. Sistemática, Filogenia y Paleobiología de Iguanodon galvensis (Ornithopoda, Dinosauria) del Barremiense Inferior (Cretácico Inferior) de Teruel (España). Ph.D. Thesis, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain, 2017 (unpub.)
Verdú, F.J.; Godefroit, P.; Royo-Torres, R.; Cobos, A.; Alcalá, L. Individual variation in the postcranial skeleton of the Early Cretaceous Iguanodon bernissartensis (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda). Cretac. Res. 2017, 74, 65–86.
Verdú, F.J.; Royo-Torres, R.; Cobos, A.; Alcalá, L. Perinates of a new species of Iguanodon (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) from the lower Barremian of Galve (Teruel, Spain). Cretac. Res. 2015, 56, 250–264.
2. The FCPTD team has demonstrated its willingness to share its data and materials, as evidenced, among others, by the following sentence from the paper on I. galvensis by García-Cobeña et al. (2024): “All data and material are available for other research. Fossils of the SC-4 specimen are housed at Museo Aragonés de Paleontología.” ‘
3. Obviously, we publish the original data in detail to justify our conclusions and make them useful to the scientific community, which can use the data to reach the same conclusions or different ones. That said, and speaking now on my own behalf, the establishment of the new genus seems to me to be a sudden and unexpected shortcut. This may have consequences for the future research of the team, which has involved six people, all of whom are fortunately alive and active, as well as willing to collaborate with other teams, as can be seen in many of their publications.
4. I firmly believe that scientific debates and disagreements are positive for the advancement of palaeontological knowledge. However, I find it unacceptable that scientifically based results are being questioned through personal attacks on the Verdú et al. team, with expressions more typical of a tavern conversation, in an attempt to discredit them by unilaterally indicating when and how they should have carried out their research. Who knows the availability of time, personnel, and financial resources needed to prepare all the material, travel to study the reference collections, balance research with other work commitments, etc.? F.J. Verdú studied the original fossils of Iguanodon bernissartensis during a stay in Brussels, as well as other fossils and bibliography, applying the scientific method in descriptions and phylogenetic analyses. The publication of scientific replies is welcome to promote scientific debate, of course, but the easy recourse of creating a new taxon by surprise does not seem to me to be the most professional approach to resolving a different interpretation of the data.
5 Additionally, I would like to state that, as I no longer lead the team that continues to research Iguanodon galvensis (although I support the qualifications of the team that now does so), I have not discussed with my colleagues whether they will prepare a reply to the paper establishing the new genus. I hope they do, at least to point out that the institution “MPT: Museo de Teruel, Teruel, Spain” has nothing to do with Iguanodon galvensis nor does it have any connection with palaeontology, and also to congratulate the authors on their imaginative inventions for naming a species: ug. galvensis, Ug galvensis, ug galvensis and ug. galvensis (I wonder what reviewers collaborate with that journal...).
My main concern about this situation is that authors may choose to include only the minimum data necessary to justify their conclusions in their publications and hide, perhaps forever, other useful data so that it is not “fished out” by those who seem to put their personal merits ahead of the advancement of knowledge that should guide us all.
Finally, I respectfully ask that you use this list to focus discussions on objective paleontology in a professional manner, and as far as I am concerned, you already know my opinion, so I will not bother you with further comments on this subject.
Luis Alcalá
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