Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus?
We have all called an Apatosaurus a Brontosaurus at one point. Don`t deny it, but we know better now right? Or do we? Lets take a look back at Brontosaurus`s history.
Back in 1879, the first Brontosaurus genus was "found" by paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh. This specimen still is see-able at Great Hall of Yale`s Peabody Museum of Natural History.
But in 1903 paleontologist Elmer Riggs found that Brontosaurus was just the same genus as Apatosaurus. In such cases like this the rules of scientific nomenclature states that the oldest name is the correct name.
A nearly 300 page study sayed that Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus were different enough to be its own genus. This means now you can say that Brontosaurus is a real dinosaur!
Back in 1879, the first Brontosaurus genus was "found" by paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh. This specimen still is see-able at Great Hall of Yale`s Peabody Museum of Natural History.
But in 1903 paleontologist Elmer Riggs found that Brontosaurus was just the same genus as Apatosaurus. In such cases like this the rules of scientific nomenclature states that the oldest name is the correct name.
A nearly 300 page study sayed that Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus were different enough to be its own genus. This means now you can say that Brontosaurus is a real dinosaur!
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