Rinchen Barsbold

In thisMongolian name,thegiven nameisBarsbold.Rinchenis apatronymic,not afamily name.

Rinchen Barsbold(Mongolian:Ринченгийн Барсболд,Rinchyengiin Barsbold,born December 21, 1935, inUlaanbaatar) is aMongolianpaleontologistandgeologist.He works with the Institute of Geology, atUlaanbaatar,Mongolia.He is an expert invertebratepaleontologyandMesozoicstratigraphy.

Barsbold has been instrumental in the discovery and recovery of one of the largestdinosaurcollections in the world. His work has helped to form a more modern understanding of the later stages of dinosaur evolution inEurasia.

Barsbold has had considerable influence on dinosaur paleontology in the Communist world. His scientific work has made him a leading authority ontheropodsof theGobi Desert,starting with his doctoral dissertation on these dinosaurs. As early as 1983, he noted that in different lineages of theropods, many features previously only known frombirdshad evolved in various combinations (Barsbold 1983). He postulated that as a result of this "ornithization", one or several lineages of theropods that happened to acquire the proper combination of such traits went on to evolve into actual birds.

Since the identification of a number offeathered dinosaursbeginning in the late 1990s, Barsbold's ideas have been more fully appreciated. When he initially published his conclusions - a list of generally rather obscureanatomicalfeatures - in 1983, there was little exchange between the Mongolian scientific community and that of Western countries. Moreover, his early papers were usually published inRussian,in which few Western scientists are fluent. In addition,Evgeny Kurochkin- a leading specialist on bird paleontology in the Soviet sphere - was critical of the theropod-bird link, working with and teaching mostlyCenozoicbird paleontology. Therefore, Barsbold's theories initially had more impact among paleontologists in Mongolia, theUSSR,and allied countries.

He is the son of scientist and writerByambyn Rinchen.

Dinosaur identification

Barsboldia(Maryanskaand Osmolska, 1981) is named after him.

The dinosaurgeneraandfamiliesnamed by Barsbold are, in alphabetical order:

• Adasaurus(1983)
• Anserimimus(1988)
• Conchoraptor(1986)
• the familyEnigmosauridae(1983) (now synonymous withTherizinosauridae)
• Enigmosaurus(with A. Perle, 1983)
• Gallimimus(with H. Osmólska and E. Roniewicz, 1972)
• Garudimimusand the familyGarudimimidae(1981)
• Harpymimusand the familyHarpymimidae(with A. Perle, 1984)
• "Ingenia" (1981) (occupied, nowHeyuannia yanshini)
• the subfamilyIngeniinae(1981) (now synonymous withHeyuaniinae)
• the familyOviraptoridae(1976)
• the suborderSegnosauria(with A. Perle, 1980) (now synonymous withTherizinosauria)

References

• Barsbold,Rinchen (1983): O ptich'ikh chertakh v stroyenii khishchnykh dinozavrov. [ "Avian" features in the morphology of predatory dinosaurs].Transactions of the Joint Soviet Mongolian Paleontological Expedition24:96-103. [Original article in Russian.] Translated by W. Robert Welsh, copy provided by Kenneth Carpenter and converted by Matthew Carrano.PDF fulltext