Brontosaurus Finally Validated as a Distinct Dinosaur Species
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Dorling Kindersley RF/Thinkstock(LISBON, Portugal) — 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.
The long-necked dinosaur’s name is known by legions of fans; its image even made it on to a postage stamp in the 1980s, yet most paleontologists in recent years would have told people that there’s no such dinosaur as “brontosaurus.” The dinosaur popularly known as the brontosaurus is known to scientists as Apatosaurus excelsus.
But the iconic dinosaur may finally be reinstated. More than a century after researchers found the long-necked brontosaurus and apatosaurus were likely different species in the same genus, an analysis published Tuesday in the journal PeerJ suggests that brontosaurus actually should be considered a separate dinosaur. Both dinosaurs lived approximately 150 million years ago.
“Until very recently, the claim that Brontosaurus was the same as Apatosaurus was completely reasonable, based on the knowledge we had,” Emanuel Tschopp, one of the researchers from the New University of Lisbon in Portugal, said in a statement.
Setting out to analyze the differences between the large grouping of diplodocid dinosaurs, which include the apatosaurus and other dinosaurs characterized by their long necks and plant-based diets, Tschopp and his team said they did not expect to resurrect the brontosaurus.
Studying more recently discovered fossil evidence of similar dinosaurs, the researchers found enough distinctions to advocate placing the brontosaurus in its own genus.
They found the apotosaurus had a bulkier neck, while the slightly more slender brontosaurus stood out for a longer bone found in its ankles.
“The differences we found between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus were at least as numerous as the ones between other closely related genera, and much more than what you normally find between species,” Roger Benson, a professor at the University of Oxford and co-author of the study, said in a statement.
The brontosaurus’ modern day story began in the 1870s when rival paleontologists Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh raced to publish new dinosaurs names.
Marsh first discovered the apatosaurus and then two years later found another dinosaur fossil at the same location and named it the brontosaurus.
In 1903, it was ruled that the two skeletons were too similar and were better classified as different species of the same genus, Apatosaurus.
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