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[davegodfrey]

• 10:47 I'm saddened to learn that Brachiosaurus brancai should be called "Giraffatitan". Why can't the ICZN have a clause for "sounding nicer"? ;) #

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Comments

What the -!?!

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Please tell me there's some obscure Latin or Greek involved and not a reference to giraffes (great big honkin' giraffe?).

Why can't the ICZN have a clause for "sounding nicer"?

And what about good old tradition? I'm still fuming that the brontosaurus is now, well, whatever they're calling it these days; next to Tyranosaurus Rex, that's about as dinosaur-sounding a name as there is was.

Re: What the -!?!

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Nope. its a reference to giraffes. There were two species of Brachiosaurus. B. altithorax from the US, and B. brancai from Tendaguru in Tanzania. altithorax was named first and gets to stay in Brachiosaurus. It turns out that the two species are significantly different, so should probably be separated into different genera. Other animals already put into different genera may well separate them even further, so the new name is a good idea.

Brontosaurus is now called Apatosaurus, and has been for decadeds, long before either of us were alive. Quite why "Brontosaurus" took over when the scientists weren't using it I don't know. Pop culture grabbed it and nobody managed to stop it maybe?

Re: What the -!?!

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I was afraid of that. Not sure why the giraffe reference bugs me, but it does.

The Flintstones aside, I first learned of the name brontosaurus from a How and Why Wonder Book which I would have sworn was published in the 60s. But who knows? And who knows how accurate it was, for the matter.