Information and Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Some of the terms used on this site may be unfamiliar to many people. The following  glossary is here to help visitors bone up on paleontology terminology. For information about the specific animals found in the Cope-Lucas Quarries, return to the main fossil page and click on the skulls.

Bipedal - moving around primarily on two legs. Humans are bipedal, as were Allosaurs.

Femur - a large, long (hind) leg bone also known as the thigh bone.

Genus (plural: genera) – the taxonomic level above species. Most dinosaurs are known primarily by the name of their genus (Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, etc.). The scientific name of an organism consists of its genus name (first letter capitalized) followed by its species name (not capitalized), both in italics (for example, Camarasaurus supremus and Tyrannosaurus rex).

Jurassic – Period of time between about 201 and 145 million years ago. Most of the animals from the Cope-Lucas quarries are from the Late Jurassic, around 150 million years ago.

Medullary cavity – the space within bone shafts where bone marrow is stored, also known as the marrow cavity. In humans, bone marrow fills the cavity. Many birds, however, have hollow bones that are partially filled with air, as did some extinct dinosaurs. Oramel Lucas noted the similarity between the medullary cavities in birds and the dinosaur bones he found in Garden Park.

Ornithopod – a group of beaked, herbivorous dinosaurs. Early ornithopods were quick, bipedal creatures. However, later species like Camptosaurus, were semi-quadrupedal, meaning they spent some of their time on all four legs. Ornithopods are notable for evolving a complex chewing method similar to modern day cows. Camptosaurus and Nanosaurus are both ornithopods found at the Lucas quarries.

Quadripedal - moving around primarily on four legs. Sauropods, like Camarasaurus, were quadripedal.

Sauropod – a group of long necked herbivores, including the largest dinosaurs (and largest land animals) that ever lived. Most of the bones found in the Cope-Lucas Quarries, such as Camarasaurus, Apatosaurus, and Amphicoelias, belonged to sauropods.

Species – a basic taxonomic group. Many scientists define a species as a group of organisms that can breed together and produce fertile offspring. For extinct creatures like those in the Cope-Lucas Quarries, whose breeding is now impossible to observe, a more practical definition of species is a group of organisms which are very genetically similar to each other.

Taxonomy – the science and general practice of classification. On this site, taxonomy is used to refer to biological classification, or the way scientists categorize living things. Genus and species are examples of taxonomic groups used to classify organisms based on how closely they are related to each other.

Theropod – Bipedal, usually carnivorous dinosaurs. The ancestors of modern birds are in this group, as are birds themselves. The only theropod found in the Cope-Lucas quarries is Allosaurus.

Trituration – reduction to powder by friction or grinding. (This word comes up in O. W. Lucas's Article, where Lucas uses it to describe chewing food. Today it is much more common to use trituration as a word for grinding a substance into powder with a mortar and pestle.)

Type Locality – the location where the type specimen of an organism (or type species of a group of organisms) was found. The Cope-Lucas Quarries is the type locality for Camarasaurus.

Type Species – the first species of a genus (or larger group) that is formally described. Camarasaurus supremus is the type species for the Camarasaurus genus.

Type Specimen – the specimen of an organism against which all other specimens of that organism are compared. When this is the first specimen of the organism found, which is usually the case, it’s called a holotype. When it is not the first specimen, but instead a later, probably better preserved one, it’s called a neotype. Most of the dinosaurs found at the Lucas quarries were holotypes for their species, though not all of them are still considered valid names.

Vertebra (plural: vertebrae) - an individual bone that forms part of the vertebral column, or flexible backbone, that defines vertebrate animals. Various types of vertebrae have been found in the Cope-Lucas Quarries. Cervical vertebrae are from the neck, dorsal vertebrae are from the back, and caudal vertebrae make up the tail.