BRONTOSAURUS

former name of the dinosaur Apatosaurus (q.v.). The confusion arose in 1874 after a scientist, O.C. Marsh, unearthed some fossils in Wyoming, U.S., and believed that he had discovered a new genus. Later, evidence proved that the fossils were those of a dinosaur already discovered and named, the Apatosaurus. In 1974 the name Brontosaurus was formally discarded.