Goodbye, Triceratops.

[Spider-Who?]

for all us dino nuts out there...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=are-torosaurus-and-triceratops-one-2009-09-28

the article pretty much says that they believe that the triceratops was actually a young torosaurus (or the torosaurus is a mature triceratops...take your pick).

So, with this in mind, what other dinosaurs do you think are actually the same species, just at different growth stages/genders?

 

[The Battousai]

I think this kind of thing has happened before - not only among extinct creatures, but also among extant ones.

 

[TNC9852002]

One man begs to differ

 

[BigSams50]

^

 

[SuperFerret]

The answer is simple. Say goodbye to Torosaurus, and say that it was just a mature Triceratops. Of course, that'll never happen, because nomenclature in science tends to be nerd-centric, particularly where it doesn't really matter. See the Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus issue (though granted, that actually supports my Triceratops over Torosaurus, since Triceratops was named and discovered first).

 

[Kane52630]

One man begs to differ

Love live the Triceratops Dinozord

 

[Ipodman]

Triceratops sounds cooler. So I'll go with that.

Try Sarah's Tops

 

[SuperFerret]

Three Horned Face >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. Perforated Lizard

 

[The Battousai]

The answer is simple. Say goodbye to Torosaurus, and say that it was just a mature Triceratops. Of course, that'll never happen, because nomenclature in science tends to be nerd-centric, particularly where it doesn't really matter. See the Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus issue (though granted, that actually supports my Triceratops over Torosaurus, since Triceratops was named and discovered first).

The difference here is that the dinosaur called a "Brontosaurus" was not a complete skeleton of that species, which turned out to be an Apatosaurus.

 

[SuperFerret]

And, from what I know, Apatosaurus was classified first, therefore that name got precedence (although Brontosaurus is much more widely used, sounds better and is generally looked down upon due to its prominence in the layperson community).

 

[The Battousai]

It had a Stegosaurus head, so it loses.

 

[SuperFerret]

YOU HAVE A STEGOSAURUS HEAD!

 

[Spider-Who?]

It had a Stegosaurus head, so it loses.

Actually, it had a camarasaurus head - very different animal.

 

[NotAHenchwench]

After reading this I have an unsightly urge to time travel back to 1993.

Jurassic Park AND MMPR debuted that year.

 

[kane9321]

go go power rangers

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Love live the Triceratops Dinozord

It was the worst one. But I loved it because it was blue.

 

[TNC9852002]

no go power rangers

 

[Kane52630]

It was the worst one. But I loved it because it was blue.

yeah, my fav was Tyrannosaurus gotta love Red.

no go power rangers

you hatin?

 

[Spidey-Bat]

yeah, my fav was Tyrannosaurus gotta love Red.

I liked Titanus that appeared in about 3 episodes

 

[SuperFerret]

The Blue Ranger had the coolest helmet, but the Sabretooth Tiger was the better Zord.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Agreed. It was the only one that looked like it could do anything on it's own.

 

[TNC9852002]

There were only four dinosaurs that the world cared about: T-Rex, Pterodactyls, Raptors, and the Triceratops...

We lost one guys... We lost one..

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

for all us dino nuts out there...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=are-torosaurus-and-triceratops-one-2009-09-28

the article pretty much says that they believe that the triceratops was actually a young torosaurus (or the torosaurus is a mature triceratops...take your pick).

So, with this in mind, what other dinosaurs do you think are actually the same species, just at different growth stages/genders?

I'm glad they fixed this anomaly. This isn't the first dinosaur which got an upgrade. A year or two ago a new report showed that varying species of Pacycephalosaurus fossils discovered, where in fact, just different stages of development of the mature variety.

Mature Skull

Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachycephalosaurus

 

[The Battousai]

Actually, it had a camarasaurus head - very different animal.

 

[Spider-Who?]

I'm glad they fixed this anomaly. This isn't the first dinosaur which got an upgrade. A year or two ago a new report showed that varying species of Pacycephalosaurus fossils discovered, where in fact, just different stages of development of the mature variety.

yeah, I've heard about that one, too. I'd really like to see how much further paleontology will go and how our understanding will evolve over the next several decades. I wouldn't be surprised if we see the number of different dinosaur species steadily dwindle as they continue to realize many of them are actually just various stages of maturity.

On a side note, from what i've read else where, the fossils will continue to be called Triceratops, since that name was coined prior to Torosaurus, like Ferret mentioned.