Re: BRONTOSAURUS FOREVER!

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/20/02 4:04:55 AM EST, mike@tecc.co.uk writes:

<< I think most laymen would be very surprised to be shown a picture of, say,
 _Brachiosaurus_ and told that it's a brontosaur. >>

Well, "brontosaur" is properly applied just to members of the genus 
Brontosaurus, which, being a junior synonym of Apatosaurus, means 
"apatosaur." For a member of the group Brontosauria, the noun "brontosaurian" 
applies (this distinction is very frequently misapplied by dinosaur workers, 
unfortunately, so we get, e.g., "hadrosaur" for "hadrosaurian," "ankylosaur" 
for "ankylosaurian," and so forth). So Brachiosaurus would be a brontosaurian 
but not a brontosaur.