Brontosaurus is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, B. excelsus, had long been considered a species of the closely related Apatosaurus, researchers proposed in ...

What does the Brontosaurus name mean?

Brontosaurus. [ (bron-tuh-sawr-uhs) ] A large herbivorous (see herbivore) dinosaur, perhaps the most familiar of the dinosaurs. The scientific name has recently been changed to Apatosaurus, but Brontosaurus is still used popularly. The word is from the Greek, meaning “thunder lizard.”

Why is the Brontosaurus now called Apatosaurus?

O. C. Marsh discovered a small four legged dinosaur with a long neck. He decided to name the dinosaur Apatosaurus meaning deceptive lizard. ... Scientists use the first name given to an animal, so they decided to rename the Brontosaurus to Apatosaurus because Apatosaurus came first.