Talk:Hanyusuchus

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Armin Reindl in topic "Chinese gharial"

"Chinese gharial"

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Given that a few sources refer to this ancient reptile as the "Chinese gharial", should this be it's common name? https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2022/03/giant-19-foot-long-crocodiles-were-ritually-beheaded-into-extinction-in-china/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2311376-a-6-metre-long-crocodile-relative-lived-in-china-during-the-bronze-age/24.150.136.254 (talk) 21:16, 18 April 2022 (UTC)Reply

Nah. I don't think it really is a common name. Prehistoric species typically don't have common names. The scientific study describing it never uses the term "Chinese gharial". And when the term was used in those articles you linked above, it wasn't necessarily clear whether it was using the term as a name, or just as a general descriptor of the species based on its range. Cougroyalty (talk) 22:00, 18 April 2022 (UTC)Reply
Good points, except this species wasn’t really prehistoric. It lasted until the 15th century (and possibly even later). 209.250.178.207 (talk) 14:34, 19 April 2022 (UTC)Reply
In principle even being prehistoric does not automatically exclude something from having a common name provided it is referred as such additionally to the scientific name. This applies to a lot of Ice Age fauna, terror birds, entelodonts got a good couple of common names and so do some animals from Messel. However in this case I'm inclined to agree that "Chinese gharial" and its use in the articles is not clear enough yet and too vague regarding its use as a proper common name or simple descriptor. At least not until the name gets picked up more commonly. Armin Reindl (talk) 14:52, 19 April 2022 (UTC)Reply