29. The brontosaurus, one of the most famous of dinosaurs, actually never existed. What is this sauropod now (correctly) known as?
From Quiz Dinosaurs or Dragons? Faulty Fossil Findings
Answer:
Apatosaurus
Othniel Charles Marsh, a Yale University professor, first discovered the bones of a nearly complete apatosaurus in 1877. In 1879 he then discovered what he thought was a new species of Sauropod and called it "Brontosaurus", meaning "thunder lizard". It was later discovered that the apatosaurus was actually just a juvenile brontosaurus, and thus the brontosaurus was renamed to apatosaurus as it was the first to be named. Also, the skull that was put on the brontosaurus actually belonged to that of the camarasaurus, another Sauropod.
In 2015, a study completed by Emanuel Tschopp, Octavio Mateus, and Roger Benson concluded that the brontosaurus was separate to the apatosaurus and should be treated as a distinct genus. While this has some support, the matter is not conclusive, with other palaeontologists such as Michael D'Emic critiquing the conclusion.
The apatosaurus was a herbivorous sauropod from the Jurassic Period. Weighing in at about 23 000 kilograms (25 short tons) and with a length of about 23 metres (74 feet), it was one of the biggest land animals to ever walk the Earth. Its name comes from the Greek words "apatelos" (meaning "deceptive") and "sauros" (meaning lizard), so named because its chevron bones were similar to those of ancient marine reptiles known as mosasaurs.
The other three dinosaurs were also Sauropods but did not cause the brontosaurus confusion.