Once a terrible lizard... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Coelophysis

The name "Coelophysis" is derived from two Greek words: "Koilos", meaning "hollow" and "Physis", meaning "form". The name refers to the structure of its limb bones. Coelophysis was one of the earliest dinosaurs. The genus has also been referred to as Longosaurus and Riobarrasaurus, while the genus Megapnosaurus is now considered synonymous with Coelophysis.

Answer: Diplodocus

The name "Diplodocus" is a neo-Latin expression which combines two Greek words: "diplos" meaning "double" and "dokos", meaning "beam". The name was coined by paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, one year after the discovery of the first diplodocus fossils. The name was chosen because of the double-beamed form of the chevron bones located behind the dinosaur's tail.

Answer: Apatosaurus

The name "Apatosaurus" can be translated in English as "deceptive lizard". It was coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1877, when he examined an incomplete skeleton of Apatosaurus. In 1889, Marsh found a bigger and more complete skeleton of the genus, which he incorrectly identified as a new genus and gave it the name "Brontosaurus", which means "Thunder lizard".

Answer: Its cheek teeth bore an oak leaf shape

The first fossils of Dryosaurus were discovered by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1894. Dryosaurus was an ornithopod, often classified as an iguanodont. Like other genera of its clade, Dryosaurus was a herbivore.

Answer: Because of two distinct crests on its skull

The name "Dilophosaurus" means "two-crested lizard". The crests were formed by extension of the nasal and lacrimal bones. They had no practical usage, the sole purpose of their presence being displaying them. It is also suggested that there was no difference in the appearance of male and female members of the genus.

Answer: Chalk

The Cretaceous period was the last of the Mesozoic Era. At the end of the Cretaceous, a mass extinction event occurred, possible after the fall of an asteroid. The result was the extinction of the dinosaurs and the start of the Cenozoic Era, where mammals (humans included) dominate life in the Earth.

Answer: Corythosaurus

The genus was discovered and given its name by paleontologist Barnum Brown. Many skeletons of Corythosaurus are well preserved and almost complete. The name was given because of the crest on the dinosaur's skull, which resembles a Corinthian helmet. Corythosaurus most likely belongs in the group Lambeosaurinae.

Answer: Triceratops and Chasmosaurus are the same genus

The name Triceratops means 'Three-horned face" and it comes from the Greek language. Moreover, Triceratops bears a large neck frill in a rhinoceros fashion and there are other similarities between the two animals. Both Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus lived in North America and in some Triceratops fossils there have been found bite marks attributed to Tyrannosaurus, although how Tyrannosaurus preyed on Triceratops is uncertain.

Answer: Lambeosaurinae

The Lambeosaurinae are themselves split between Parasaurolophini, which include Parasaurolophus and Charonosaurus, and Lambeosaurini, which include genera like Lambeosaurus, the genus which gave its name to the whole group, and Corythosaurus. Lambeosayrini were also named Corythosaurini, but the term is now considered a junior term.

Answer: Henry Fairfield Osborn

The first fossils of Tyrannosaurus were found in 1874. They were teeth belonging to a member of the genus. In 1900, the first partial skeleton of Tyrannosaurus was found in Wyoming. Osborn initially named the genus Dynamosaurus, but when, in 1902, he discovered a similar skeleton, he named it Tyrannosaurus. Finding that the two genera were in fact one, he rejected Dynamosaurus in favor of Tyrannosaurus.