Pronunciation: DIE-no-SOR-us
Meaning: Terrible Lizard
Author/s: Ludwig Rutimeyer (1856)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Basel, Switzerland
Discovery Chart Position: #
Dinosaurus gresslyi
Dinosaurus gresslyi was coined by Ludwig Rutimeyer in 1856. However, Johann Fischer von Waldheim had already assigned "Dinosaurus" to what he thought was a type of lizard in 1845, so old Ludwig renamed his critter Gresslyosaurus later in 1856, and also changed the species epithet from "gresslyi" to "ingens", possibly because Gresslyosaurus gresslyi just sounds ridiculous. Not that it really matters.
Gresslyosaurus was announced as a junior synonym of Plateosaurus by Galton in 1976, but might not be, while "Dinosaurus" is a synapsid, a junior synonym of Brithopus (which itself is considered dubious because of its non-diagnostic remains), and does not anchor the entire Dinosauria nor is it even close to being a dinosaur. In fact, it's closer to mammals!
This entry is only here because "Dinosaurus" is the most searched for entry on this site, always, according to our guardian of the database, so here it is in all of its, ahem, glory.
Gresslyosaurus was announced as a junior synonym of Plateosaurus by Galton in 1976, but might not be, while "Dinosaurus" is a synapsid, a junior synonym of Brithopus (which itself is considered dubious because of its non-diagnostic remains), and does not anchor the entire Dinosauria nor is it even close to being a dinosaur. In fact, it's closer to mammals!
This entry is only here because "Dinosaurus" is the most searched for entry on this site, always, according to our guardian of the database, so here it is in all of its, ahem, glory.
