The Night of the Brontosaurus
Originally published in Finnish in niin & näin online-extra in 2015. In the beginning of April 2015 many dinosaur-buffs had to rub their eyes. The long-necked Brontosaurus, familiar from movies, toys and stamps, was reported to have returned to the fields of science. [1] This was a surprise likewise for those who knew about Bronto’s unofficial status and for those who did not even know the giant had been absent. What ever happened to Brontosaurus? In order to understand the piece of news, it is good to take a glance on the naming history of Brontosaurus, as well as on the history of paleontological naming conventions in general. Once upon a time there was Brontosaurus. It was the biggest dinosaur known in its time, when its fossils were dug up in 1879 from the Morrison Formation in Wyoming. [2] It was so big that famous American paleontologist and University of Yale professor O.C. Marsh named the finding Brontosaurus excelsus , meaning thunder lizard (gr. brontê , thu...