The Saga of Diceratops, Diceratus, and Nedoceratops

Another twist in the name change of Diceratops (see my previous post on this). The ceratopsian name 'Diceratops' (Lull, 1905) was preoccupied by a member of the Hymenoptera insects. In early 2008 Octavio Mateus published a name change in the genus of the ceratopsian Diceratops to Diceratus.

A paper was brought to my attention today, in which a Russian researcher, Andrey Ukrainsky, claims that two names, Diceratus Mateus (March 1, 2008) and Nedoceratops Ukrainsky (December 20, 2007), were independently proposed for Diceratops. Due to the principle of priority, Ukrainsky is claiming the priority for Nedoceratops (Ukrainsky 2009). I have not been able to get a copy of the 2007 Ukrainsky paper at this time (I have written and asked for a copy), but in his 2009 paper he acknowledges I. M. Kerzhner for the immediate publication of his 2007 paper. The 2008 Mateus paper was accepted on May 29, 2007.

It appears that this is another case of nomenclatural coincidence where the two authors were working on the same thing at the same time with out and knowledge of what the other was doing. The journal where Ukrainsky published his 2007 paper, Zoosystematica Rossica, does exist, but for some reason has not updated their website in quite some time, so I can not confirm the publication of the paper on their website. That seems odd. It is too bad that Ukrainsky did not choose to publish this paper in a more high profile journal (no offense to Ukrainsky or Zoosys. Ross, but I had never heard of the journal until today) and/or publicize and bring attention to this change.

Now Diceratops is Nedoceratops.

Thanks to those who have already spoken with me about this. What are the other thoughts out there regarding this?

References:

Lull, R. 1905. Restoration of the horned dinosaur Diceratops. American Journal of Science, 20: 420–422.

Mateus, O. 2008. Two ornithischian dinosaurs renamed: Microceratops Bohlin 1953 and Diceratops Lull 1905. Journal of Paleontology 82(2): 423.

Ukrainsky, A. S. 2007. A Replacement Name for Diceratops Lull, 1905 (Reptilia: Ornithischia: Ceratopidae). Zoosystematica Rossica 16(2): 292.

Ukrainsky, A. S. 2009. Synonymy of the Genera Nedoceratops Ukrainsky, 2007 and Diceratus Mateus, 2008 (Reptilia: Ornithischia: Ceratopidae). Paleontological Journal 43(1): 116.