Z. luoyangensis vs. R. giganteus holotype specimen numbers

[Sarah Tolsma]

Group,

I am currently compiling information about dinosaur genera and came across the following:

According to their original papers, the holotype of Zhongyuansaurus luoyangensis (Xu et al. 2007, Acta Geologica Sinica 81: 433–438) and the holotype of Ruyangosaurus giganteus (Lü et al. 2009, Geological Bulletin of China 28: 1–10) are both given as "HGM 41HIII-0002". 

Since a single specimen cannot be the holotype of two species simultaneously, I suspect a small transcription error exists in one of the two papers. I have checked the subsequent literature and have not found the duplication noted anywhere else.

Unfortunately the e-mail address given for Dr. Xu appears to be deactivated/no longer in use, and Dr. Lü suddenly passed away back in 2018. 

Does anyone know the correct specimen numbers for either? Either that, or have an updated e-mail address for Dr. Xu that I could reach out to? I have a feeler out to other co-authors of these papers as well.

Thanks,

Sarah

[Jay]

Hi Sarah,

The holotypes of both are from sites about 6 km from each other, and being housed in the same collection it's unsurprising the same repository number has been published.

I believe the correct ID for Ruyangosaurus probably is HGM 41HIII-0003, not "0002" (see attached image). The repository inscription appears to be marked on the material after publication of Lü et al. 2009, because it's not in their image of Fig. 3b (in addition to the plaster restoration). This seems to make sense to me because museums usually allocate repository IDs chronologically, and Ruyangosaurus was published after Zhongyuansaurus.

Jay Nair
jayraptor(at)gmail.com |

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[Sarah Tolsma]

Thank you! That's very helpful, and I agree with the reasoning.

If you happen to attend SVP later this year swing by my wife's booth (Emma LeRae) and I'll get you a freebie of your choice.

Cheers,

Sarah