ajax in genus Apatosaurus, and the name Brontosaurus was reduced to a mere synonym.Ĭonfusion stemming from Marsh’s mistaken association of Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus with a sauropod later identified as Camarasaurus prevented accurate reconstruction and measurement. Apatosaurus was first described in 1877, two years before Brontosaurus, and, according to taxonomic naming rules, it therefore became the official genus under which both dinosaurs were classified. He concluded that Marsh’s Apatosaurus specimen was simply a younger version of the same type of sauropod represented by his Brontosaurus specimen and that the two genera should thus be consolidated into one. Museums made plans to place Brontosaurus reconstructions in their institutions, and in 1905 the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City became the first to do so-the first dinosaur reconstruction of a sauropod dinosaur.Ĭontroversy erupted in 1903, however, after a reevaluation of Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus specimens by American paleontologist Elmer Riggs. By that time Brontosaurus had gained fame as being the most-complete sauropod fossil ever discovered, and illustrations of the dinosaur also appeared in newspapers and other periodicals as the late 19th century drew to a close. Marsh created a poster-sized paper reconstruction of the specimen in 1883. Shortly after he described it in the American Journal of Science, Brontosaurus became the iconic sauropod within scientific circles. Marsh excavated Brontosaurus’s nearly complete, but headless, skeleton from rocks dating to the Jurassic Period at Como Bluff Quarry 10, Wyoming. The genus Brontosaurus contains only one species, B. The genus Brontosaurus was reinstated in 2015 after a morphological study of the family to which those genera belonged revealed that the physical differences between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus were enough to separate them into two genera. Despite the change in classification, the public still embraced the dinosaur as Brontosaurus, owing to the widespread use of its likeness during much of the 20th century in advertising, motion pictures, and television, as well as the presence of Brontosaurus reconstructions in museums throughout North America and Europe. In 1903, however, the genus Brontosaurus, which means “thunder lizard” in Greek, was subsumed by the earlier-described genus Apatosaurus. Its fossil was first discovered in western North America in 1874 and first described in 1879 by American paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!īrontosaurus, (genus Brontosaurus), genus of large herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs living during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous epochs (163.5 million to 100.5 million years ago).Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions. ![]() Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.
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