What species is the Carnegie Apatosaurus

[Brachiosaurus]

What species is the carnegie Apatosaurus, or is it a Brontosaurus now?

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

I would say its A. louisae, therefore not brontosaurus, as that is the species on exhibit at the Carnegie. Maybe it will say in my book.

[John]

It was Apatosaurus louisae.So are both of the Wild Safari ones. The ones that I can think of that may be called "Brontosaurus" now (as I understand it,the jury is still out on the issue of whether Brontosaurus is actually a species of Apatosaurus or not) would be the Invicta one from 1987 and the Tyco one for the "Dino Riders" line.

[Tapejara1122]

Is brontosaurus a dinosaur? Ive heard that a sauropod was found with partial fossils found and another sauropods skull and other pieces were used to fill it in. And thus brontosaurus was born.

[CityRaptor]

Haven't you read the news? Brontosaurus is back.

[tyrantqueen]

Is brontosaurus a dinosaur? Ive heard that a sauropod was found with partial fossils found and another sauropods skull and other pieces were used to fill it in. And thus brontosaurus was born.

No, the Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus issue is not related to the skull mix-up.

A sauropod skeleton was found by Marsh who named it Brontosaurus excelsus. This was during the "Bone Wars" period of paleontology and so there was a lot of rivalry between him and Edward Cope. They would use any excuse to name new dinosaurs.

It was then argued that Brontosaurus was really just a species of Apatosaurus, so it was renamed to Apatosaurus excelsus. Apatosaurus was published first so it gets priority.

However, it has now been decided that "Apatosaurus excelsus" is different enough from other Apatosaurines that it warrants its own genus. And so, Brontosaurus is back. That's the quick and dirty answer, as I understand it.

[Halichoeres]

Tyrantqueen pretty much nailed it. One cladistic analysis found that A. excelsus clusters with other diplodicids better than it clusters with A. louisae, and because we like genera to be monophyletic if humanly possible, they removed excelsus from Apatosaurus. We'll see if it holds up.

Tapejara, I think what you're referring to is the reconstructions of Brontosaurus, which, yes, often had a diplodocid body with a Camarasaurus head glued on. So definitely the popular conception of Brontosaurus was a chimaera.

[Tapejara1122]

Is brontosaurus a dinosaur? Ive heard that a sauropod was found with partial fossils found and another sauropods skull and other pieces were used to fill it in. And thus brontosaurus was born.

No, the Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus issue is not related to the skull mix-up.

A sauropod skeleton was found by Marsh who named it Brontosaurus excelsus. This was during the "Bone Wars" period of paleontology and so there was a lot of rivalry between him and Edward Cope. They would use any excuse to name new dinosaurs.

It was then argued that Brontosaurus was really just a species of Apatosaurus, so it was renamed to Apatosaurus excelsus. Apatosaurus was published first so it gets priority.

However, it has now been decided that "Apatosaurus excelsus" is different enough from other Apatosaurines that it warrants its own genus. And so, Brontosaurus is back. That's the quick and dirty answer, as I understand it.

Thanks for clearing it up guys, it seems I need catch up with my news.