The Brontosaurus May Have Actually Existed After All

[Ultimate Paragon]

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/brontosaurus-finally-validated-distinct-dinosaur-species/story?id=30134546

On the edge of the solar system, the dwarf planet Pluto, which knows what it feels like to be banished from an exclusive club, may be cheering for the brontosaurus.

While the long-necked dinosaur's name may be known by legions of fans and even made it on to a postage stamp in the 1980s, most paleontologists would be quick to correct people that the brontosaurus is not a dinosaur.

But the iconic dinosaur name may finally be reinstated more than a century after researchers found the long-necked brontosaurus and apatosaurus likely belonged to the same genus, according to an analysis published today in the journal PeerJ.

You'd think this would be a lot easier to sort out, considering it only happened six thousand years ago.   

[rookie]

If it wasn't a dinosaur before, what was it?

[Sigmaleph]

If it wasn't a dinosaur before, what was it?

It wasn't a distinct dinosaur. The question was whether apatosaurus and brontosaurus were actually the same species or not.

my spell-check recognises brontosaurus but not apatosaurus, which clearly should settle the debate once and for all

[rookie]

Ah. Got it. Thanks. My son's dinosaur coloring book leaves a little to be desired as reference material.

[Askold]

Terry Pratchett complained about the Apatosaurus. Brontosaurus literally meant "Thunder lizard" and is a really cool name for a dinosaur. On the other hand, he said, Apatosaurus sounds much less impressive and probably means overweight lizard or something. (Actually, that wasn't the exact phrase he used but I can't remember it or what book it was in.)

[Random Gal]

There's a more in-depth look at the article here, and the paper itself can be found here

Actually, what may surprise some people is that Apatosaurus was actually bigger and more impressive than Brontosaurus. Of the two, it seems that Brontosaurus lived slightly earlier as well. There were also a few specimens included in Apatosaurus that lie outside either genus and may deserve a new name entirely too.

All this is fascinating to experts, but as for its effect on the average person I posted the following comment on the blog from the first link:

I’m afraid that the “Brontosaurus is back!” fanfare is going to increase confusion among the general public though, especially considering the misconception that Apatosaurus was a “replacement name” for Brontosaurus. There will be people wondering why the skulls weren’t changed back*, why the skeleton in Pittsburgh is still being called Apatosaurus after the name was changed, and such.

*Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus had long been reconstructed with a big rounded head when the actual skull turned out to be smaller and flatter. This mistake has often been conflated with the naming issue in popular culture.

[Sigmaleph]

Also!