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So, if this is a different species--it makes 4 spinosaurids from Isle of Wight now? 

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1 hour ago, FF7_Yuffie said:

So, if this is a different species--it makes 4 spinosaurids from Isle of Wight now? 

 

By my reckoning... But to few diagnostic remains have been discovered as of yet to postulate this. It is rather amazing, though, isn't it :o

Edited by pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon
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40 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

By my reckoning... But to few diagnostic remains have been discovered as of yet to postulate this. It is rather amazing, though, isn't it :o

 

It is. Seems to have been a bit of a spate of Isle of Wight discoveries/research in recent years--the two new Baryonyx species last year and vectiraptor a few years ago. 

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Keep in mind that the two IOW were discovered in the slightly older Wessex Fm and this one is from the Vectis Fm.  Baryonyx is described from the Wealden Clay on the mainland.  So are the IOW remains identified as Baryonyx belong to one of the those two?  More discoveries needed.  Hard to imagine 3 Spinosaurid in the same fauna but not impossible

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22 minutes ago, Troodon said:

Keep in mind that the two IOW were discovered in the slightly older Wessex Fm and this one is from the Vectis Fm.  Baryonyx is described from the Wealden Clay on the mainland.  So are the IOW remains identified as Baryonyx belong to one of the those two?  More discoveries needed.  Hard to imagine 3 Spinosaurid in the same fauna but not impossible

 

Very true. Strictly speaking I'd therefore indeed advocate restraint in how many species you count on the IoW, restricting oneself to the two described ones, however tantalizing the idea of one to two species more on the island may be... Only the future will tell us how many there actually were (especially so since taxonomy is tricky business that can be rather subjective when dealing with lumpers and splitters) :)

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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1 hour ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

 

Very true. Strictly speaking I'd therefore indeed advocate restraint in how many species you count on the IoW, restricting oneself to the two described ones, however tantalizing the idea of one to two species more on the island may be... Only the future will tell us how many there actually were (especially so since taxonomy is tricky business that can be rather subjective when dealing with lumpers and splitters) :)

For the less educated (me) what is a lumper as used here?

*Frank*

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4 minutes ago, FB003 said:

For the less educated (me) what is a lumper as used here?

A lumper is someone who takes, say, existing multiple yet related species and reclassifies them as a single species, whereas a splitter takes a single genus or species and makes them all distinctly new species on the basis of observable characteristics... or maybe on a whim. :P 

 

Sometimes lumping and splitting is justified, and other times it can be a bit subjective and a head-scratcher.

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Aren't most dinos from the IoW described from 1 or 2 bones, I think there's supposedly 4-5 "different" titanosaurs that lived there during the early Cretaceous.

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26 minutes ago, Kane said:

A lumper is someone who takes, say, existing multiple yet related species and reclassifies them as a single species, whereas a splitter takes a single genus or species and makes them all distinctly new species on the basis of observable characteristics... or maybe on a whim. :P 

 

Sometimes lumping and splitting is justified, and other times it can be a bit subjective and a head-scratcher.

Got it. Makes perfect sense. Thanks!

*Frank*

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