Re: Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus

["Jonathan R. Wagner" <znc14@TTACS.TTU.EDU>]

Robert Boscarelli wrote:
>  I've been on several digs with Dr Bakker and he favors brontosaurus over
>apatosaurus because the former is so ingrained in popular thought and
>writing. Also, I think he just likes the name better.
        I could not agree more with Dr. Bakker's reasoning. However, this is
the sort of thing that the International Commission on Zoological
Nomenclature is for. As I understand it, if a name has gone unused for a
long time (e.g. _Apatosaurus_), but is a senior synonym of a name (e.g.
_Brontosaurus_) which has been used extensively, the ICZN may be petitioned
to have the less common name supressed in favor of the more common name. Why
this was not done is beyond me. _Brontosaurus_ appears to have been the
perfect candidate.

        Wagner
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    Jonathan R. Wagner, Dept. of Geosciences, TTU, Lubbock, TX 79409-1053
                    "...To fight legends." - Kosh Naranek