[tosser0001]

There are a small handful of relatively well-know dinosaurs: stegosaurus being one of them. There’s also Tyrannosaurus rex, Brontosaurus (maybe you’re not supposed to call them that anymore), Triceratops and maybe a couple of others. Why were these ones so “famous”? Were they the earliest ones discovered? most common? Just fine examples of their type?

[shiroiushi]

Probably just because they're all very large, and very odd-looking mostly. Other types are generally smaller and more boring. They might also have been discovered earlier, establishing those general body types.

Brontosaurus doesn't exist any more; apparently it was some kind of mistake due to incomplete knowledge I think, or maybe some kind of mix-up. Apatosaurus I think is the current king of that type of long-necked huge plant-eating sauropod.

[lostlogin]

> Brontosaurus doesn't exist any more

Really? I can’t see anything about this in the wiki?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brontosaurus

[shiroiushi]

From your link:

>Brontosaurus is a genus in the subfamily Apatosaurinae, which includes only it and Apatosaurus, which are distinguished by their firm builds and thick necks. Although Apatosaurinae was named in 1929, the group was not used validly until an extensive 2015 paper, which found Brontosaurus to be valid. However, the status of Brontosaurus is still uncertain, with some paleontologists still considering it a synonym of Apatosaurus.

And:

>Almost all 20th-century paleontologists agreed with Riggs that all Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus species should be classified in a single genus. According to the rules of the ICZN, which governs the scientific names of animals, the name Apatosaurus, having been published first, had priority; Brontosaurus was considered a junior synonym and was therefore discarded from formal use.

[ramesh31]

>Why were these ones so “famous”?

Jurassic Park.

[rcpt]

They were famous before Jurassic Park.

Jurassic Park introduced everyone to velociraptors. But stegosaurs and T-Rex were always battling it out in kids art classes

[stephenr]

> introduced everyone to velociraptors

It introduced everyone to Deinonychus and to the (incorrect) name Velociraptor.

[rcpt]

Yeah

[throwup238]

> Why were these ones so “famous”? Were they the earliest ones discovered? most common? Just fine examples of their type?

I think it can be mostly explained by the first Jurassic Park movie.

[vundercind]

Seconding other poster that all those were already famous. Like if you bought a small set of plastic dinosaurs before that movie, those would pretty much be guaranteed to be in the set, plus some sort of hadrosaur/duckbill and maybe an ankylosaurus.

Land Before Time included most of those in the “main cast” but I think it was following the trend, not setting it.

Velociraptor (well, the fake Deinonychus-like “velociraptor antirrhopus” or whatever from the book/movie) and definitely Dilophosaurus got a huge popularity boost from Jurassic Park.

[tosser0001]

Their “fame” certainly well pre-dated that movie. These were the ones I knew as a kid in the 60s and 70s, and would be featured in old stop animation movies even before my time.