Field guide · Identity research
Nodosaur names · approved identity holds
Approved on 10 October 2026. Historical policy v9 checkpoint: the expanded review roster contained 1,314 genera. Retain Hylaeosaurus and Struthiosaurus; hold Hylosaurus and Hoplosaurus out as independent guesses and answers. The live sample remains 36 genera.
Hylosaurus: a spelling correction
PBDB still accepts both Hylosaurus (66560) and Hylaeosaurus (38822). Both are attributed to Mantell 1833 and cite the same original reference, 23493. Hylosaurus has no linked occurrences or child species. Its sole returned classification opinion is Tatarinov 1964 (532825), explicitly marked misspelling. Together these support the inference that the extra identity is a spelling duplicate; use only Hylaeosaurus.
Raven’s taxonomic history separately discusses Fitzinger’s Hylosaurus mantelli (1843), treating it as a nomen nudum, a name lacking the description needed to establish it. That historical usage must not be confused with our Mantell-attributed database record.
Hoplosaurus: a documented hold
PBDB accepts Hoplosaurus Seeley 1881 (53046), with no linked occurrences or child species. Its selected opinion is Kuhn 1964 (187806), placing it in Acanthopholididae. Three older opinions instead make it a subjective synonym of the sauropod Pelorosaurus.
The Dinosauria distribution chapter (Weishampel et al. 2004), in its Austrian Gosau entry, includes Hoplosaurus ischyrus within Struthiosaurus austriacus. Upchurch et al. 2011 separately documents Hoplosaurus as a misspelling of the sauropod Oplosaurus. This supports the inference that the database opinions mix distinct historical usages.
The approved game decision retains Struthiosaurus and holds Hoplosaurus out as a separate genus. The full Pereda-Suberbiola and Galton 2001 reappraisal has not been inspected: exact formal synonymy and the database repair remain unresolved. This is a hold, not a completed synonymisation. Do not merge the sauropod opinions or any fossil evidence into Struthiosaurus. Preserve the canonical record’s PBDB attribution, Bunzel 1870, without silently rewriting it to dates used by other publications.
Effect on Gastonia
The check compares policy v5 with the approved policy v9 checkpoint, using the same provisional diet, period and region clues, all reviewed positive or qualified locality evidence, and every actual wrong guess reaching the source Nodosauridae parent. Counts are unguessed remaining candidates. Within Nodosauridae, only the two held identities change. Separately approved exceptions outside this group affect the overall roster count but are outside these candidate and probe sets.
| Locality clue | Before holds | After holds | Missing locality candidates retained after holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poison Strip Sandstone Member · Cedar Mountain Formation · US | 5–6 | 3–4 | Silvisaurus |
| Yellow Cat Member · Cedar Mountain Formation · US | 3–4 | 1–2 | Silvisaurus |
Silvisaurus remains possible because its locality information is incomplete. Qualified Hoplitosaurus and Sauropelta records remain in the Poison Strip comparison. A missing record or preferred locality cannot erase a supported occurrence elsewhere.
Limits
The full 2001 Struthiosaurus taxonomic reappraisal has not been inspected; exact formal synonymy and database repair remain open.
The Mantell-attributed PBDB Hylosaurus record is distinguished from Fitzinger’s later Hylosaurus mantelli.
Locality comparisons assume three provisional standard clues and the frozen source tree. Catalogue non-matches do not prove fossil absence.
The original source and occurrence catalogue are preserved. No hidden-answer eligibility or live gameplay change is introduced.
Sources and reproducibility
Raven · taxonomic history, section 2.4 ↗. The relevant indexed passage was inspected; the complete thesis download was unavailable in this review.
Weishampel et al. 2004 · Dinosaur distribution ↗. The Austrian Gosau entry was inspected in the author-hosted chapter text.
Upchurch et al. 2011 · Sauropod dinosaurs ↗. The relevant Oplosaurus spelling passage was inspected.
Six PBDB identity/opinion responses are preserved as compressed, wire-hashed JSON with every returned opinion. The manifest preserves the previous policy and exact comparison anchors. Run python review-nodosaur-identities.py to reproduce the checks. Full comparisons, identities, opinions and source URLs are in the JSON download.