In Depth The turbulent history of Brontosaurus For well over one hundred years there was a great question asked amongst dinosaur enthusiasts; is Brontosaurus actually Apatosaurus? Well this all began in a period of American paleontological history dubbed the ‘bone wars’, a fierce rivalry between two men named Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh. … Read more
In Depth The history of Galeamopus goes all the way back to 1902 when the first fossils were discovered in the US state of Wyoming. In 1906 the fossils were assigned to the Diplodocus genus, but in 1924 they were given their own species D. hayi, upon the basis that they were clearly different to … Read more
In Depth The name Leinkupal means ‘vanishing family’, and this is a reference to the observation that the diplodocid sauropods seemed to have died out during the early Cretaceous. Indeed, at the time of its description, Leinkupal seems to have been one of the last diplodocid sauropods known to live, though other types of sauropods, … Read more
In Depth One of many diplodocid sauropods of the Morrison Formation (with other genera including Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Suuwassea amongst others), Dystrophaeus has been the source of a lot of confusion. Edward Drinker Cope, the person who first named Dystrophaeus, thought that the animal belong in the much earlier Triassic period, while Othniel Charles Marsh … Read more
In Depth Supersaurus is a relative of the ever famous Diplodocus and Apatosaurus (formerly known as Brontosaurus), as these three genera are all described as diplodocid sauropods. Diplodocids are members of the Diplodocidae and are noted for their long necks and tails, the latter of which are very thin and whip-like. Diplodocids can be further … Read more