Who Named the Dinosaur? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Emanuel Bunzel

Named in 1871 from fossils discovered in Austria in 1855, Struthiosaurus (meaning "Ostrich lizard") was the smallest member of the Ankylosaur family, measuring less than two metres long. It lived in Austria, France, Romania and Hungary during the Campanian stage of the late Cretaceous period.

Answer: Gideon Mantell

Iguanodon is one of the most famous dinosaurs. It was first discovered in 1822 by Gideon Mantell. He noted that the teeth (the only part of the skeleton he found), looked very similar to the teeth of a modern Iguana, hence its name, meaning "Iguana Tooth".

It lived in Europe and possibly Asia, north Africa and the USA during the Barremian and Valanginian stages of the early Cretaceous period.

Answer: H. F. Osborn

Named in 1906, Tyrannosaurus Rex (meaning "Tyrant Lizard King") is perhaps the best-known of all dinosaurs. It was originally named Manospondylus by Edward Cope in 1892. In 1902, Barnum Brown discovered a partial skeleton and wrote a paper naming it Dynamosaurus in 1905.

In that same document, Henry Fairfield Osborn described Tyrannosaurus Rex and this was eventually chosen as the valid name. It lived in the USA and Canada during the Maastrichtian stage of the late Cretaceous period.

Answer: Johann Wagner

You may remember this tiny dinosaur from the "Jurassic Park" franchise. Named in 1859 from a fossil discovered in Germany, Compsognathus (meaning 'Dainty jaw') was one of the smallest dinosaurs. It lived in Germany and France during the Tithonian stage of the late Jurassic period.

Answer: John Ostrom

The first fossils of this dinosaur, originally named Daptosaurus (meaning "Active lizard"), were discovered by Barnum Brown in Montana and Wyoming in 1931. Thirty-three years later, in 1964, John Ostrom discovered a remarkable fossil site near the town of Bridger, Montana, USA: the almost-complete skeletons of four small predatory dinosaurs lying beside the skeleton of a twenty-foot-long Tenontosaurus.

This appeared to show evidence of pack-hunting behaviour. In 1969, Ostrom named the dinosaur Deinonychus, meaning "Terrible claw", after the large curved claws on the second toe of each foot.

It lived during the Aptian and Albian stages of the early Cretaceous period.

Answer: William Parks

Lambeosaurus (meaning "Lambe's lizard", after palaeontologist Lawrence Lambe), was named in 1923, roughly twenty years after it was first discovered. It was one of the largest members of the Hadrosaur family and, like many of its relatives, it sported a hollow crest on its head, possibly used to attract a mate or help individuals recognise members of its own species.

It lived in Canada and the USA during the Campanian stage of the late Cretaceous period.

Answer: William Buckland

Megalosaurus (meaning "Great lizard"), holds a special place in dinosaur history....it was the first dinosaur to be officially named. In 1676, a partial thigh bone was discovered in a limestone quarry in Oxfordshire, UK. It was given the name "Scrotum humanum", due to its resemblance to a human scrotum. However, it was later identified as being part of the leg bone of a large animal. After the discovery of a partial lower jaw bone containing several large teeth, William Buckland became the first person to scientifically describe a dinosaur, naming Megalosaurus in 1824.

Megalosaurus lived in Europe during the Aalenian and Bajocian stages of the middle Jurassic period.

Answer: A. Nowinski

Named in 1971 from a single skull discovered in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, in 1965, Nemegtosaurus (meaning "Nemegt lizard") belonged to a group of long-necked dinosaurs called Sauropods. It lived during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the late Cretaceous period.

Answer: E. D. Cope

Palaeontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh were once the best of friends, until 1869, when Cope reconstructed the skeleton of the plesiosaur Elasmosaurus and Marsh pointed out a flaw in the reconstruction (Cope had placed the plesiosaur's head on the end of its tail!) This led to what's known as 'The Bone Wars', with Marsh and Cope competing to see who could find and name the most new dinosaur species. Marsh named eighty while Cope named fifty-six.

Named in 1889, Coelophysis (meaning "Hollow form"), is the oldest well-known dinosaur. In 1947, George Whitaker discovered a mass of no less than a hundred Coelophysis skeletons at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, USA. Many of the adult specimens appeared to have the bones of juvenile Coelophysis in their stomach regions and this led to the belief that this dinosaur was a cannibal. However, it's now been shown that the juveniles were simply lying under the bodies of the adults.

Answer: O. C. Marsh

Othniel Charles Marsh discovered the first fossils of Stegosaurus in Colorado, USA, in 1877. Its name, meaning "Roofed lizard", stems from the fact that palaeontologists once thought the plates on its back lay flat like the tiles on a roof. We now know these plates stood upright in two alternating rows, though we still don't know what the plates were used for.

The most popular theory is that they were used to help control body temperature. They may also have been used for display to attract a mate or frighten a rival (or predator).

The tail was armed with four long spikes, used for defence. It lived in the USA during the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian stages of the late Jurassic period.