'Extinct' no longer? Brontosaurus may make a comeback
The Brontosaurus is back. Or at least it should be, according to a new analysis of the long-necked dinosaur family tree.
The study researchers suggest the dinosaur currently known as Apatosaurus excelsus is different enough from its Apatosaurian kin as to be a different dinosaur altogether. Because A. excelsus was famously first known as Brontosaurus until 1903, the species would revert back to that original name and become Brontosaurus once again.
It's a proposal that excites some paleontologists and leaves others skeptical, but researchers say it's entirely possible that Brontosaurus may eventually regain its place in the scientific nomenclature. [ See Images of an Apatosaurus Discovery ]
"The big picture is, there are independent groups of researchers looking at these dinos and these relationships, and they are independently arriving at the same conclusion, that the diversity of this family of dinosaurs is greater than previously recognized," said Matthew Mossbrucker, the director and curator of the Morrison Natural History Museum in Colorado. Mossbrucker was not involved in the new study, but is "wholly in favor of bringing the genus Brontosaurus back," he said.
Brontosaurus background
The saga of Brontosaurus is as long as this sauropod's snakelike neck. In 1877, the geologist Arthur Lakes sent paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh some fossilized bones, which Marsh described as a new late-Jurassic sauropod, Apatosaurus ajax . In 1879, Marsh's team found another long-necked dino in the same era rock, which Marsh concluded was a different genus and species altogether Brontosaurus excelsus .
The Brontosaurus name was not long-lasting, however. In 1903, the paleontologist Elmer Riggs determined that A. ajax and B. excelsus were more closely related than Marsh had believed. Apatosaurus , being the first named, took precedence, and Brontosaurus was no more. Instead, the dinosaur species once known as B. excelsus became A. excelsus . The Brontosaurus moniker persisted in popular culture, but not among scientists.
Not among most scientists, anyway. There have been occasional calls to re-examine the species. Paleontologist Bob Bakker, the curator of paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, has argued for a revision of the A. excelsus name since the 1990s. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/04/07/extinct-no-longer-brontosaurus-may-make-comeback/
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Gee, we called them Brontosaurus in college, granted 40 years ago, but that's what we called them! I'm glad to see the name make a comeback.
I know there are scientific reasons for all this name-changing, but it surely is confusing to many of us, even those of us in the field.
Wonderful article! I really enjoyed it!!! Thanks for posting it!
We have all drunk the same water that the dinosaurs drank. Kind of a neat thought, that...
I, too, remember it being called Brontosaurus. but that was about 60 years ago. When I first saw the title of this article I thought someone was doing the Jurrassic Park thing and creating new life from DNA.
Brontosaurus ... rhinosaurus
same , same .
Jurassic park kind of showed us that.
BTW, I am not sure that this article got something right. When they changed the name ofBrontosaurus, they changed it toApatosaurus.
My theosaurus ... a truly ferocious book .