Fame and obscurity in prehistoric animals

[Newt]

The proportion of how much attention a particular prehistoric animal receives from the public and from scientists is often imbalanced. Most often this is a case of animals that are very important and well-studied scientifically not catching the public fancy - the Permian basal eureptile Captorhinus is my favorite example, but there are many others. 

More rarely there are animals that are quite famous but which it is very difficult to find much published scientific research on. I've been surprised recently by how little information there is available on Gastornis/Diatryma, for example. What are some other famous, but scientifically obscure, extinct animals?

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I think it's interesting how we see a succession of popularity of certain species over time. For example, Dimetrodon and Allosaurus seem to have been overshadowed by Spinosaurus and Carnotaurus, respectively. Looking at older children's books that I have from the 50's, there are species represented that we don't see much of anymore, such as mesosaurus. I prefer the old-school species choices, myself.

I'm sure pop culture has a lot to do with which species are more popular with the public, between museum displays, movies, and a few generations of children's books. I suppose spinosaurus falls into your latter category, with it's rise in popularity after Jurassic Park ///, but little fossil material to go on.

[GojiraGuy1954]

Most large carcharodontosaurids don't have very good fossil descriptions

[Bowhead Whale]

I miss books where Megalosaurus and Iguanodon were described...

[Halichoeres]

Megaraptorans are a little like that. There actually are kind of a lot of papers on them, but most of them are descriptions of new taxa based on a handful of elements accompanied by a phylogenetic analysis that feels a lot like a shrug.

[Concavenator]

Megaraptorans are a little like that. There actually are kind of a lot of papers on them, but most of them are descriptions of new taxa based on a handful of elements accompanied by a phylogenetic analysis that feels a lot like a shrug.

I think it's a similar situation with spinosaurids and carcharodontosaurids, albeit not that extreme. At least those two families have (very few, and few, respectively) representatives that are known from decent remains. And that is helpful, but only relatively, because in a family containing one or more subfamilies (and tribes inside subfamilies), or when distinguishing between basal and more derived members in groups, the interspecific variation could be relatively noticeable. So, for example, the fact that we know a good part of Suchomimus doesn't necessarily mean that we can extrapolate its morphology to other members of its family that are known from scarce remains and that are placed outside the subfamily Baryonichinae.

When it comes to the title of this topic, I think how famous a certain taxon is, primarily, depends on how much attention it has received from the media, and then it's also influenced by its ecology. The first reason explains why there are fragmentary taxa that are more popular/receive more attention than taxa known from good fossil remains, despite their morphology being more speculative, whereas it would be more fair/logical if the most studied and well-preserved taxa are the ones that should be most popular. And while this is true in some cases, it's also true that this reason should be way more prevalent than it really is. And when it comes to the second reason, it seems big predators (true predators, not herbivores, which are also predators) are simply more popular than phytophages. That's usually also accompanied by the bias towards "the biggest whatever", as you mention.

[Halichoeres]

I do think the converse situation is a lot more common, things that are well known to paleontologists but that most enthusiasts never learn about. How many people can distinguish between a brachiopod and a bivalve? Or name even one trilobite genus? I guess it's the same with modern animals, people only learn the big ones by name, and forget about learning plants!