Talk:Desmatosuchus

A new paper on Desmatosuchus has just arrived...........

Parker, W. G., 2008, Description of new material of the aetosaur Desmatosuchus spurensis (Archosauria: Suchia) from the Chinle Formation of Arizona and a revision of the genus Desmatosuchus: PaleoBios, v. 28, n. 1, p. 1-40.

Abstract: A new specimen of Desmatosuchus from northeastern Arizona (MNA V9300) preserves almost the entire vertebral column, the pelvis, and the majority of the armor carapace, allowing for an unprecedented detailed description of the taxon. Articulation and reconstruction of the armor carapace demonstrates that previous reconstructions of Desmatosuchus are erroneous in the orientation and position of the lateral armor. Lateral plates of the anterior dorsal region possess low rounded knobs instead of developed spines. The dorsal flange of the lateral plates of the dorsal region is longer than the lateral or ventral flange making the carapace transversely wider than previously thought. As a result, previous reconstructions articulate the lateral armor not only backwards but also on the wrong sides of the body. Posterior presacral vertebrae are extremely robust and possess fused ribs and the last presacral vertebra has been fused to the sacrum, a character that may be taxonomically useful. A prefrontal bone is also present in Desmatosuchus, contrary to previous descriptions. Reinvestigation of the genus Desmatosuchus suggests that there are only two valid species, D. spurensis and D. smalli. The lectotype of Episcoposaurus haplocerus is referable to Desmatosuchus but indeterminate at the species level, and therefore represents a nomen dubium. Accordingly, D. spurensis is reinstated as the type species of Desmatosuchus and the new Arizona specimen is assigned to this taxon. Acaenasuchus geoffreyi, a purported juvenile form of Desmatosuchus, is not referable to Desmatosuchus.

Based on the abstract above, Episcoposaurus haplocerus is clearly assignable to Desmatosuchus, but is not identifiable beyond Desmatosuchus and is instead a nomen dubium, despite a lectotype having been designated for it. This leads to Desmatosuchus spurensis Case, 1920 being resurrected for the well-known desmatosuchine aetosaur from the Adamanian rocks of the American Southwest. Thus, D. haplocerus should be marked by the label nomen dubium and D. spurensis'' (type species) should be added.

Orphaned references in Desmatosuchus
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Desmatosuchus's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "Aetobarbakinoides": From Aetosauroides:  From Aetosaur:  

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 18:49, 29 June 2014 (UTC)