(PCM) Back in the year 1989, the U.S. Postal Service issued a set of stamps that featured various species of dinosaurs with one in particular being labeled the Brontosaurus. When the stamp was released both educators and paleontologists vocally protested the stamp claiming that the dinosaur species featured on the stamp was actually not a Brontosaurus, but rather a Apatosaurus, which was the correct scientific name.
However, now years later, it seems that the U.S.P.S. may have been right all along. A new study of the Diplodocidae dinosaur family tree has now shown that skeletal remains of the dinosaur previously known as the Brontosaurus show enough skeletal differences for the Apatosaurus that they are now able to be classified as their own species.
The study was published this week in the scientific journal PeerJ and the Brontosaurus we all know and loved can finally reclaim its’ long banished name. The author of the study claims that he did not initially set out to reclaim the name of the Brontosaurus, as he was only trying to better understand the evolutionary relationships between all Diplodociadae. With his research he was able to discover the many differences between both the Bronotsaurus and Apartosaurus skeletal remains.
Proving yet again the power of science, even long held beliefs are often times subject to change. Did you ever know a Brontosaurus wasn’t a Brontosaurus in the first place?
