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The Dinosauria (Second Edition) Palaeontologia Electronica http://palaeo-electronica.org The Dinosauria (second edition) Reviewed by Matthew T. Carrano edited by David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. xviii+861 pp. $95.00 ISBN 0-520-24209-2 INTRODUCTION The Dinosauria (second edition) is the long- But really, you don’t need me to tell you this. awaited update of the 1990 volume of the same The Dinosauria (second edition) is the kind of book name (Weishampel et al. 1990a), which in the past that most paleontologists, or at least most verte- fourteen years has become a fixture on the desks brate paleontologists, will buy. And they will not be and shelves of dinosaur paleontologists and enthu- disappointed for doing so, because this edition siasts worldwide. In many ways, that first edition succeeds in the same ways as the first, and enjoys was the first of its kind (as the editors themselves some new accomplishments as well. Nonetheless, noted; Weishampel et al. 1990b), presenting what a great deal of effort went into producing this book, was the only truly comprehensive, research-based and it deserves (or, if you prefer, is not excused guide to dinosaurs written by scientists. from) a proper review. This second edition is faithful to the first in many ways. All of its good qualities are still appar- THE MORE THINGS CHANGE... ent; some have been improved. Certain crimes Several substantial improvements merit com- and misdemeanors have been eliminated; a few ment early on. Perhaps the most important, rightly still lurk the pages. emphasized in the introduction (Weishampel et al. It has also been 2004), is the editors’ insistence that (1) all authors updated to within present a phylogeny of their respective groups that an inch of what is (2) backed up by a formal cladistic analysis and publishers will (3) made available on the book’s website. With allow; indeed, some this one editorial fiat, Weishampel et al. have com- 2003 papers must pletely transformed the systematic portion of The have snuck in Dinosauria from a series of op-ed pieces into sci- under the cover of entific contributions that can be properly evaluated editorial night. And by the paleontological community. at $95, this sub- A second major improvement is the expansion stantial hardcover of the non-systematic section of the book (“Dino- volume is, in fact, a saur Distribution and Biology”). The first edition bargain. included chapters on the paleobiology of sauro- Carrano, Matthew T. 2005. The Dinosauria. Palaeontologia Electronica, 8:2, book review 2, 7pp. 224KB; http://palaeo-electronica.org/paleo/toc.htm WEISHAMPEL ET AL.: THE DINOSAURIA pods and carnosaurs (but no other specific still absurdly lumped into a single chapter, which is groups), a list of dinosaur distributions, and then now the longest in the taxonomic section (64 pp.), collapsed everything else into “dinosaur paleobiol- when they should have been split into at least three ogy”. Here in the second edition, there are sepa- groups (basal Sauropoda, Macronaria, and rate chapters on taphonomy, extinction, physiology Diplodocoidea). The most egregious bit of over- (two), and biogeography. They are also properly inflation is still the hopelessly charismatic placed after the systematics section. Theropoda, encompassing a lavish nine chapters Of all the major and minor changes to the and 176 pages! I understand the group’s popularity book, I cannot think of one that detracts from its and appeal (I work on them myself), but in the end value, or renders it worse than its predecessor. If paleontologists have directed too much energy into that seems like damning with faint praise, it isn’t. theropod studies at the expense of every other The editors are to be commended for resisting the dinosaur group. Yes, many theropods were spec- temptation to “improve” the book to death. tacular and ferocious, and yes, the group did give rise to birds. But in a less slavering and progress- ...THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME obsessed world, these nine chapters would have been five: basal Theropoda, basal Tetanurae, Not all of the book’s positive aspects are new; basal Coelurosauria, Maniraptora, and basal Avi- in fact, several are wise holdovers from the first alae. edition. In that volume, three things stood out as Another major critique of the first edition cen- particularly useful for both scientists and students: tered on the quality and variability of its illustra- (1) an extensive bibliography, not complete but tions. Although several of the second edition’s close enough, and salted with enough obscure chapters have fine illustrations (Langer and Tyko- citations for anyone’s taste; (2) a similarly exhaus- ski should be singled out here), others have recy- tive list of dinosaur taxa, with provenance informa- cled previous images at an unfortunate rate (Figure tion (where available) and taxonomic opinions; and 1). Finally, while the inclusion of web-access data (3) maps and a lengthy compendium detailing the matrices for the phylogenetic and biogeographic geographic distributions of dinosaurs. analyses is a tremendous improvement, more All three are, happily, still included in the sec- effort could have been made to support the non- ond edition, each appropriately expanded and systematic chapters. Although the dinosaur distri- updated. I say “happily” because these three form butions data (ddd) are available on-line, the URL is the absolute bedrock of the book. The Dinosauria not listed in the book or on the Press website (it's (second edition) is a summary and interpretation of ddd). Likewise, a downloadable version of the bibli- the current state of knowledge in dinosaur science, ography would be a real gift to the paleontological and as such does not (and should not) attempt to community. amass the vast amounts of primary data on which the science is founded. What it does (and should GESTALT OR SYNERGY? do) instead is provide a comprehensive means for readers to access those primary data through the At this point I am expected to deliver a chap- original publications. ter-by-chapter commentary on The Dinosauria At the same time, one might wonder why cer- (second edition), and detail its successes and tain other aspects of the first edition were not shortcomings. In a way this is impractical, because changed. In an attempt to strengthen the intellec- were I expert enough to critique the lengthy mor- tual continuity between the two editions, the editors phological descriptions of (e.g.) stegosaurs I might have chosen to retain as many original authors as have considered writing the book myself. (I am possible. Updates were primarily accomplished by not, and did not.) Therefore, I present a more gen- the introduction of one or two new (usually junior) eral discussion of content here (see Table 1 for authors to each chapter. Often enough, the result is chapter listing). a responsible update rather than a complete over- The introduction (Weishampel, Dodson, and haul. For certain chapters, however, the original Osmólska) outlines the changes and updates to author choices seemed less-than-ideal back in the new edition, including the web address for data 1990, and now appear downright baffling. matrices (http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/ The first edition’s disparity in taxonomic cover- 2601001/2601001.supplement.html). The authors age also continues. Although psittacosaurs have also repeat their 1990 exhortation to standardize now been folded into “Basal Ceratopsia”, and non- anatomical nomenclature. The logic is, apparently, hadrosaur ornithopods are somewhat more ratio- that enough confusion arises from the peculiarities nally grouped, other biases remain. Sauropods are of human anatomical terminology to warrant man- 2 WEISHAMPEL ET AL.: THE DINOSAURIA Figure 1. Illustration renewal and recycling in The Dinosauria (second edition). The graph shows the number of recy- cled illustrations as a percent of all illustrations, according to chapter. Chapters are numbered as in the book, except for the two introductory chapters: Saurischia (S) and Ornithischia (O) (see Table 1). Systematic chapters are in green, non-systematic chapters are in purple; chapter 25 (taphonomy) has no illustrations and is excluded. datory use of both veterinary and avian terms craniates. Furthermore it would provide greater instead. congruence with more of the existing literature. Here I would like to digress and point out that Multiple but equivalent terms that depend on loca- the most logical course of action is to choose a tion relative to the head (e.g., “cranial” versus “ros- nomenclature that is both maximally useful and tral”) presume not only the greater anatomical maximally inclusive. Combining terms from a “importance” of the head, but that some benefit is highly derived crown group possessing numerous gained by such terminological proliferation. What autapomorphies (i.e., birds) with terms from a poly- benefit? Is the term “anterior” so confusing that it phyletic assemblage of tetrapods unfortunate obscures even the region of the organism under enough to fall under the human yoke (i.e., domesti- discussion? Our conversations about nomencla- cates) does not fulfill these requirements. It has ture should focus on conservatism, inclusiveness, the added misfortune of substantially altering exist- and the base of the tree, not the crown. ing nomenclatural systems. In a more Orwellian As before, the book’s introduction is followed world, such changes would be of little conse- by Benton’s chapter introducing the
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