Status Of Massospondylus Synonyms

[DD1991]

Has anyone heard from the academia if there is a re-assessment of putative Massospondylus synonyms allocated by Cooper (1981)? The last time I checked I found out that Gryponyx had been re-instated as valid by Vasconcelos and Yates (2004) and Yates himself now says that Gyposaurus (restricted to G. capensis) is also probably distinct from the true Massospondylus. Moreover, the discovery of Aardonyx, Ignavusaurus, Arcusaurus, the Spion Kop sauropod and "Melanorosaurus" thabanensis as well as the recognition of a second species of Massospondylus (M. kaalae) raises questions about whether or not the remaining putative synonyms of M. carinatus allocated by Cooper (1981) are referrable to Massospondylus. Any word from the academic community as to whether there is re-appraisal of putative synonyms of Massospondylus?

NOTE: When synonymizing Gyposaurus, Gryponyx, Aristosaurus, Hortalotarsus, Dromicosaurus, and Aetonyx with Massospondylus, Cooper (1981) considered Lufengosaurus to be congeneric with Massospondylus. The fact that Lufengosaurus is distinct from Massospondylus provides me with another reason to consider the synonymy of Aristosaurus, Hortalotarsus, Dromicosaurus, and Aetonyx with Massospondylus questionable.

[Regg Cato]

I seem to recall something being in the works, but nothing has actually been published yet. Part of the issue is that so many of the species referred by Cooper (1981) to Massospondylus are based on very incomplete material, and the logical conclusion may have been to consider it all Massospondylus. I'm also interested in the status of the Isalo prosauropods from LT Madagascar; some of them are similar to Massospondylus.

But chances are this might be a project for someone with the time and resources.