Oh Giraffatitan, where art thou?

Above: Skull of Brachiosaurus altithorax (right, from Carpenter & Tidwell, 1998) and "B." brancai (left, by Gunner Rias, licensed).

A curious bit of goss, and potential drama?, teased out Mike Taylor and crew at SV-POW.

In recent posts about a new brachiosaurid announced last week, Qiaowanlong (or is it a brachiosaurid? See SV-POW for in-depth coverage), Mike Taylor consistently reffers to the genus "Brachiosaurus" brancai.

The goss stems form use of the quotes. As we all know, when discussing scientific names, the genus and species are always put in italics. The exception to this are nomina nuda, which are names not properly described or coined. Another exception is when a genus and species combo is found to be invalid for whatever reason. For example, the name Ingenia, for an oviraptorid, is preoccupied and has not yet been renamed. But the species name yanshini is still valid. So, when we talk about this species, we might write it as "Ingenia" yanshini to indicate that the genus name is going to change.

Similarly, this same notation is used for species previously assigned to one genus but are no longer considered related to that genus' type, and are pending reclassification under a new genus name. For example, the species "Dilophosaurus" sinensis is probably not closely related to Dilophosaurus wetherilli, so it gets quotes until a replacement name is chosen. This is also the current situation with "Brachiosaurus" brancai. Many people have suspected that this African sauropod is not the closest relative of the North american type species, Brachiosaurus altithorax, given that a B. altithorax skull has been identified that differs from the African species (see photos above), among other differences in skeletal shape and proportion.

So what's wrong with using quotes when talking about "B." brancai? The African version has already been given a new name! In a 1988 paper, Greg Paul coined the name Giraffatitan for a distinct "subgenus" containing the African species. This was later formalized as a genus name, I believe by Olshevsky in his Mesozoic Meanderings, but correct me if I'm wrong.

So wy write "Brachiosaurus" brancai when, if considering this a separate genus, it should rightly be Giraffatitan brancai? I asked Mike about it, and apparently a paper explaining will be coming out in a week or so. The goss at SV-POW for quite some time has been that the SV-POWsketeers favor a separate genus for "B." brancai, but the assumption was always that this would be Giraffatitan. Mike is playing coy for now--is it simply that the authors don't like the name Giraffatitan? Mike says this is the only paper he's seen in which the acknowledgments contain an apology, so it sure sounds like that is close to the truth...

But a valid name can't be rejected simply because an author doesn't like the sound of it. It would have to be argued away on technical grounds. Is the fact that Giraffatitan was originally a subgenus, not a proper genus, coming into play and allowing Giraffatitan to be re-named? Is the apology directed towards George Olshevsky (maybe the authors don't consider his self-publications valid?). I don't know the ins and outs of priority when it comes to subgenera and subspecies. But we'll know shortly...