Correct citations for Sinosauropteryx and Protarchaeopteryx

A quick one today based on the fact I just found out the entirety of Chinese Geology is free online.  Ji and Ji used it for their early Yixian feathered theropod descriptions in the 90s.  Back then getting Chinese papers in the West was not as easy as today, and as Sinosauropteryx and Protarchaeopteryx both got redescribed in Nature in 1998 and had their original descriptions translated by Downs in 2001 and uploaded to The Polyglot Paleontologist, I think most researchers never bothered to hunt down the Chinese originals.  But now that they're easily available, I've noticed everyone's been copying the incorrect citations in the Nature or Downs' papers, so this post is here to sort that out.



Sinosauropteryx

https://www.cgsjournals.com/article/id/zgdz_DIZI199610011

Note these mid-90s papers don't actually have English titles.  The first published was the original description of Sinosauropteryx, given by Chen et al. (1998) as-

Ji, Q. & Ji, S. A. On discovery of the earliest bird fossil in China and the origin of birds. Chinese Geol. 233, 30–33 (1996).

And by Downs' 2001 translation as-

Qiang Ji and Shu’an Ji. On the Discovery of the earliest fossil bird in China (Sinosauropteryx gen. nov.) and the origin of birds. Chinese Geology. Volume 233. 1996. pp. 30-33.

But the actual citation is-

Ji and Ji, 1996. 中国最早鸟类化石的发现及鸟类的起源. Chinese Geology. 23(10) (total issue 233), 30-32.

Chen et al.'s is closer, as Google Translate translates the Chinese title as "The discovery of the earliest bird fossils in China and the origin of birds", and it certainly doesn't say "Sinosauropteryx gen. nov." which would be "中华龙鸟属新属".  I'm curious to know if there was a page 33 that the Chinese Geology scanners missed, perhaps containing a figure like the last pages of the next two articles (since there are no figures in the paper otherwise).

Skull of NGMC 2124 (photo by Mortimer at the TMP in 1999).

https://www.cgsjournals.com/article/id/zgdz_DIZI199707010

A second paper describing supposed Sinosauropteryx specimen NGMC 2124 was published the following year, and sadly remains the only paper describing this unique taxon (recovered a couple weeks ago as a juvenile tyrannosauroid in Cau's ontomatrix).  Currie and Chen (2001) give the reference as-

Ji, Q., and Ji, S.-A. 1997b. Advances in the study of the avian Sinosauropteryx prima. Chinese Geology, 242: 30–32 (in Chinese).

And there's an HTML translation that was online (as of 2010) that gives it as-

Ji Qiang & Ji Shuan, Advances in Sinosauropteryx Research, Chinese Geology, 1997, 7, p. 30-32 and cover page 3.

But the actual citation is-

Ji and Ji, 1997. 中华龙岛(Sinosauropteryx) 化石研究新进展. Chinese Geology. 24(7) (total issue 242), 30-32, 49.

Google Translate translates the Chinese title to "New progress in the study of Sinosauropteryx fossils" which seems more accurate than Currie and Chen's as the species name is certainly never mentioned.



Protarchaeopteryx

https://www.cgsjournals.com/article/id/zgdz_DIZI199703012

Ji et al. (1998) give the reference as-

Ji, Q. & Ji, S. A. Protarchaeopterygid bird (Protarchaeopteryx gen. nov.)—fossil remains of archaeopterygids from China. Chinese Geol. 238, 38–41 (1997).

Downs' 2001 translation gives us-

Qiang Ji and Shu’an Ji. A Chinese archaeopterygian, Protarchaeopteryx gen. nov.. Geological Science and Technology (Di Zhi Ke Ji). Volume 238. 1997. pp. 38-41.

But the actual citation is-

Ji and Ji, 1997. 恩错祖鸟(Protarchaeopteryx gen. nov.) - 中国的始祖鸟类亿右. Chinese Geology. 24(3) (total issue 238), 38-41, 49.

The first four characters (恩错祖鸟) translate to Protarchaeopteryx, so "protarchaeopterygid" is an invention of Ji et al., made more obvious by the fact it was classified as an archaeopterygid in the paper.  The implied family 'Protarchaeopterygidae' has never been published so remains unofficial.  Google Translate gives the translation "Protarchaeopteryx gen. nov. - Archaeopteryx of China."

Center of Protarchaeoptery holotype.

Lingyuanornis

https://www.cgsjournals.com/article/id/zgdz_DIZI199903021

I think the only other dinosaur described in Chinese Geology is Lingyuanornis, an objective junior synonym of Liaoxiornis that may have been first cited in Western literature by Chiappe and Walker (2002) as-

Ji Q. and Ji S.-A. 1999. A new genus of the Mesozoic birds from Lingyuan, Liaoning, China. Chinese Geology 262:45–48.

As English titles were a thing by now, the actual citation is pretty similar-

Ji and Ji, 1999. A new genus of the Mesozoic birds from Lingyuan, Liaoning, China. Chinese Geology. 26(3) (total issue 262), 45-49.

The volume issue

One obvious difference in citations besides the titles and page numbers are the volume numbers, with most prior citations using what appears to be a single large number representing the issue perhaps all the way from 1954 when the journal started.  However, the format the Chinese Geology website has is one with volumes corresponding to year (from 1958 forward), then issues of a variable number within that year.  The HTML Ji and Ji 1997 'Sinosauropteryx' translation does give the issue number (7) correctly, but none of them cite the volume corresponding to the official website.  Notably, the latter includes photos of all the issue covers showing the issue format was there from the beginning.  Also interesting is that while the 1996-1998 papers themselves have no indication of a volume or issue, Lingyuanornis' does include both "总第262 期 中 自 地 质" and "1999 年第3 期", translating to "Total Issue No. 262 China Geology" and "Issue No. 3, 1999".  Back in 2001 I assumed this meant volume 262 issue 3, but this is obviously not the case, and 26(3) and 262 are two different ways of referencing the same issue.  Counting back shows that the other three "total issues" are indeed 233, 242 and 238, although I'm not sure where in the issues people found these numbers and they're not very useful for navigating the archive.



References- Chen, Dong and Zhen, 1998. An exceptionally well-preserved theropod dinosaur from the Yixian Formation of China. Nature. 391, 147-152.

Ji, Currie, Norell and Ji, 1998. Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China. Nature. 393, 753-761.

Currie and Chen, 2001. Anatomy of Sinosauropteryx prima from Liaoning, northeastern China. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 38(12), 1705-1727.

Chiappe and Walker, 2002. Skeletal morphology and systematics of the Cretaceous Euenantiornithes (Ornithothoraces: Enantiornithes). In Chiappe and Witmer (eds.). Mesozoic Birds - Above the Heads of Dinosaurs. University of California Press. 240-267.