Brontosaurus
Brontosaurus [1] is a genus of sauropod dinosaur.
| Brontosaurus Temporal range: Upper Jurassic
154–150 mya | |
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| Holotype specimen of B. excelsus Peabody Museum of Natural History | |
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| Brontosaurus excelsus | |
Brontosaurus was originally named by its discoverer Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879. Brontosaurus had long been considered a junior synonym of Apatosaurus. Its only species was reclassified as A. excelsus in 1903.
However, an extensive study published in 2015 concluded that Brontosaurus was a valid genus of sauropod distinct from Apatosaurus.[2]
Brontosaurus is a member of the family Diplodocidae, a clade of gigantic sauropod dinosaurs. The family includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the earth, including Diplodocus, Supersaurus, and Barosaurus. Brontosaurus is closely related to Apatosaurus in the subfamily Apatosaurinae.[2]
Brontosaurus Media
An 1896 diagram of the B. excelsus holotype skeleton by O.C. Marsh. The head is based on material now assigned to Brachiosaurus sp.
Obsolete mount of an apatosaurine referred to B. excelsus (specimen AMNH 460) with sculpted skull, completed in 1905, American Museum of Natural History
Infographic explaining the history of Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus according to Tschopp et al. 2015
The sculpted "Brontosaurus" skull of the Yale Peabody Museum mount, which was based on fossils Camarasaurus and Brachiosaurus
Comparison of three specimens and a human: Oklahoma specimen of Apatosaurus ajax (orange), A. louisae (red), and Brontosaurus parvus (green)
A cervical (top) and dorsal vertebra (bottom) of B. excelsus
Restoration of B. excelsus
Left front limb of B. yahnahpin, Morrison Natural History Museum
Skeleton of the AMNH apatosaurine (possibly B. excelsus, specimen AMNH 460) as remounted in 1995
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
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