Pronunciation: drin-kuh
Meaning: for Edward Drinker Cope
Author/s: Bakker, Galton, et al. (1990)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Wyoming, USA
Discovery Chart Position: #348
Drinker nisti
During the latter part of the 19th century, Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh were embroiled in a bitter war of bones, catchily dubbed "the bone wars", and stopped at nothing to one-up each other by fair means or foul. Driven by machismo, they spied, lied, sabotaged and openly slandered each other at every opportunity. So it's a bit ironic that Drinker—a primitive ornithopod named in honour of the former turned out to be the same as Othnielosaurus—a primitive ornithopod named to honour the latter.
Drinker was a small, agile biped with unusually broad feet and long, widely spread toes, which may have evolved to negotiate a swampy habitat within Wyoming's Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. Robert Bakker reported the discovery of over thirty individuals in what might have been a burrow, and all specimens lack tail-stiffening ossified tendons, which would've been amazingly beneficial: a floppy tail is the tail to have if you're negotiating tight tunnel bends.
Many dinosaurs named by Cope and Marsh turned out to be synonyms of already named critters, else based on dubious remains undeserving of their own name, as the pair battled for supremacy. So it's quite fitting that Carpenter and Galton assigned both Drinker and Othnielosaurus to Nanosaurus agilis in 2018. Even from the grave, Marsh one-upped his nemesis because he had named Nanosaurus agilis in 1877. Or so it seemed.
In 2025, Barrett and Maidment declared that the type specimens of Nanosaurus agilis, Othnielosaurus and Drinker, along with Nanosaurus rex, Laosaurus celer, Laosaurus gracilis, and Laosaurus consors, all lack unique character combinations that could be used to support their validity, and thus, they are dubious names in no position to be laying claim to other specimens. Furthermore, they proposed that Drinker might actually be an early diverging herbivorous headbanger, based on the presence of ornamented cheekbones and teeth which bear a striking resemblance to those of a pachycephalosaurid called Dracorex, but that wouldn't affect its dubiousness as things stand. The copious remains assigned to Drinker are in serious need of further study.
Drinker was a small, agile biped with unusually broad feet and long, widely spread toes, which may have evolved to negotiate a swampy habitat within Wyoming's Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. Robert Bakker reported the discovery of over thirty individuals in what might have been a burrow, and all specimens lack tail-stiffening ossified tendons, which would've been amazingly beneficial: a floppy tail is the tail to have if you're negotiating tight tunnel bends.
Many dinosaurs named by Cope and Marsh turned out to be synonyms of already named critters, else based on dubious remains undeserving of their own name, as the pair battled for supremacy. So it's quite fitting that Carpenter and Galton assigned both Drinker and Othnielosaurus to Nanosaurus agilis in 2018. Even from the grave, Marsh one-upped his nemesis because he had named Nanosaurus agilis in 1877. Or so it seemed.
In 2025, Barrett and Maidment declared that the type specimens of Nanosaurus agilis, Othnielosaurus and Drinker, along with Nanosaurus rex, Laosaurus celer, Laosaurus gracilis, and Laosaurus consors, all lack unique character combinations that could be used to support their validity, and thus, they are dubious names in no position to be laying claim to other specimens. Furthermore, they proposed that Drinker might actually be an early diverging herbivorous headbanger, based on the presence of ornamented cheekbones and teeth which bear a striking resemblance to those of a pachycephalosaurid called Dracorex, but that wouldn't affect its dubiousness as things stand. The copious remains assigned to Drinker are in serious need of further study.
Etymology
Drinker is named in honor of American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope.The species epithet, nisti, refers to the National Institute of Standards and Technology who funded digs at Como Bluff in the early 1990s.
Discovery
The first remains of Drinker were discovered at the Main Breakfast Bench Quarry (aka "Big Nose Quarry") in the upper Morrison Formation, Como Bluff, Albany County, Wyoming, by James Siegwarth and James Filla in 1990, alongside fossilized lungfish teeth and marsh vegetation.The holotype, originally "CPS 106" (Bakker et al., 1990) and then "Tate 4001" (Bakker 1996), includes parts of the upper and lower jaws, vertebrae from the neck, back, hip and tail, and partial arms and legs of a sub-adult.
Referred material includes five various growth stage specimens (CPS 107, 108, 109, 197, 198) of the 30 individuals assumed to be present in the holotype quarry (a burrow), plus a juvenile thighbone (USNM V 5808) and a tooth (YPM VP 9524) from "Quarry 9" at Como Bluff.
The location of the holotype specimen is currently unknown, with Carpenter and Galton claiming the previous two institutions that allegedly had it (Colorado Palaeontographical Society at the University of Colorado Museum and Wyoming's Tate Geological Museum) have no record of the specimen ever being there, and the society and collection it was originally said to be part of never existed at all!
