Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Dont Lose Your Head: Brontosaurus is Once Again Reclassified

Dont Lose Your Head: Brontosaurus is Once Again Reclassified

Inner children rejoice; In a recent taxonomic development, the once obsolete term Brontosaurus, has been reinstated to describe a separate genus of extinct reptiles that were once believed to be a species of Apatosaurus, is in fact it’s own separate genus, a correction that overwrites a consensus that has held since 1903.
It’s likely that you’ve been corrected by someone that the Brontosaurus you were referring to was in fact an Apatosaurus, with great condescension. Such people would often go further to insist that Brontosaurus did not exist as a species. This itself is also a misconception. The term Brontosaurus was never obsolete, but used to describe a different species within the same genus of Apatosaurus. The new development states that Apatosaurus excelsus exists within its own unique Brontosaurus genus.

The confusion surrounding Brontosaurus began at its discovery in the 1870’s. Two partial skeletons of the animal were discovered but both were lacking a skull. A skull was reconstructed based off of another dinosaur, Camarasaurus, and classified the animal Brontosaurus excelsus. The skull reconstruction turned out to be wrong, and a different skeleton was found that appeared to be an intermediate between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus. The scientists were so inscure over the botched-skull incident that they immediately reclassified Brontosaurus as a species within the Apatosaurus species, since it seemed discouraging that Brontosaurus was speciated enough to be its own genus. This was settled further in the 1970’s when it was discovered that Apatosaurus wasn’t very closely related to Camarasaurus, but instead Diplodocus, with a different, horselike skull unlike the boxy one of Camarasaurus that used to be the base for Brontosaurus. This birthed the myth that Brontosaurus was just an Apatosaurus with the wrong head.


The new research that has been done is both incredibly extensive and uses new technology that wouldn’t have been possible in the past. It covers over 300 pages of evidence which uses statistical analysis of different closely related dinosaurs, and suggested that Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus had at least as many differences between them as could be found between other genera, too much to be considered just a difference between species in the same genus. The difference between “species” and other levels of classification is not well defined, especially among extinct species which can’t be directly observed. As it stands, however, the differences between the two species now more closely fits the differences defined between other similar species.

Posted by Patrick O'Loughlin

6 comments:

  1. Really nice! I find dinosaurs really interesting, and I do remember going through that confused state growing up learning that Brontosaurs were an Apatosaurus, but I'm glad it's all been cleared up!

    ~ Mitch

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  2. Nice post! I hadn't realized that brontosaurus weren't considered a species since 1903. I think its awesome though that the scientists have fixed their mistake. I think that this just proves that science is always moving forward even when we are looking at the past.

    -Madison Boone

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    1. While Brontosaurus did exist in 1903, the perception of what Brontosaurus was has changed. Brontosaurus was originally discovered without a head and the proposed head they gave it was wrong. It wasn't until recently that taxonomic evidence suggested a different shaped head that was more simliar to Apatosaurus. So while yes, Brontosaurus existed as a name, the whole picture of the dinosaur wasn't clear yet. It still isn't, and there are some details that have yet to be clarified!
      -Patrick O'Loughlin, Original Poster

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  3. As a child who grew up loving dinosaurs, I was very sad when I learned that the brontosaurus wasn't considered a species! Very fun to know that they are considered one once again. Cool post.

    Erika Nevins

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  4. This is interesting, these dinosaurs were actually one of my favorites when I was little. I didn't know that brontosaurus was reclassified due to an error in classification. But thanks to advances in technology this issue was fixed which is really great in increasing our knowledge on theses species.

    - Jazmin Granadeno

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    1. Taxonomy is a science that is quickly changing and evolving. Though it may seem like we've clarified things, this taxonomy is just as subject to change as it was in the past. It makes you wonder, is taxonomy ever going to be clarified, or are we bound to discover more confusion than what we started with/
      -Patrick O'Loughlin, Original Poster

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