Glossary BOS - BRO
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BOSS
A boss is a horn or bone stump on the snout of some animals. Ceratopsians,
like Styracosaurus had a boss.
BOTHRIOSPONDYLUS
(pronounced BOTH-ree-o-SPON-di-lus) Bothriospondylus (meaning: "trench
vertebra") was a brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur about 65 feet (20
m) long, weighing roughly 17322 kg. It was a long-necked, quadrupedal,
plant-eater with openings in its vertebrae. It lived in what is now England
and Madagascar during the late Jurassic Period, about 170-156 million
years ago. It was described by Sir Richard Owen in 1875.
BRACHAUCHENIUS
Brachauchenius (meaning: "short neck") was a plesiosaur that
lived during the late Cretaceous period. This pliosauroid marine reptile
was up to 36.5 feet (11 m) long; its broad, triangular, pointed skull
was up to 5 feet (1.53 m) long. Brachauchenius was a meat-eater that ate
fish and other swimming animals. It had sharp teeth, strong jaws, and
a short neck. It lived in the open oceans and breathed air. Brachauchenius
may have laid eggs in nest that it dug into the sand, much as modern-day
sea turtles do. Plesiosaurs swam using their four paddle-like flippers
in a manner similar to that of modern turtles. They might have been able
to move a little bit on land, as modern seals do. Brachauchenius was named
by Williston in 1903. The type secies is Brachauchenius lucasi.
BRACHIOPOD
Brachiopods (meaning: "arm feet") are a phylum of animals also
known as lamp shells (bottom-dwelling marine invertebrates that have two
dissimilar protective shells held together with a hinge, and superficially
look like mollusks). Brachiopods evolved during the Cambrian Period, roughly
570 million years ago. In the late Ordovician period mass extinction (about
438 million years ago), over half the Brachiopod species went extinct.
There are about 260 living species of Brachiopods living worldwide.
Brachiosaurus
A tall herbivore dinosaur of the Late Jurassic period, its name means
"arm-lizard".
BRACHYCERATOPS
(pronounced BRACK-i-SIR-a-tops) Brachyceratops ("short-horned face")
was a ceratopsian dinosaur (a horned, scallop-frilled plant-eater with
a crest) from the late Cretaceous Period, 80-70 million years ago. It
was about 6 feet (1.8 m) long and weighed roughly 140 kg. Fossils have
been found in Montana, USA. It was named by C.W. Gilmore in 1914.
BRACHYLOPHOSAURUS
(pronounced BRACK-uh-LOF-o-SAWR-us) Brachylophosaurus ("short crested
lizard") was a duck-billed dinosaur (a hadrosaurid) from the late
Cretaceous Period (75 million years ago) in Alberta, Canada and Montana,
USA. It was about 22 feet (7 m) long and weighed roughly 2700 kg. It had
a small, solid, spiked crest on its snout. It was named by paleontologist
Charles M. Sternberg in 1953.
BRACHYPODOSAURUS
(pronounced brah-KIP-oh-do-SAWR-us) Brachypodosaurus ("short-legged
lizard") was an ornithischian, either an ankylosaur (armored dinosaur)
or a stegosaur (plated dinosaur). It dates from the late Cretaceous Period,
88-73 million years ago. Only a fossilized leg bone (a humerus) was found
in India. The type species is B. gravis. It was named by Chakravarti in
1934. It is a doubtful genus.
BRACHYROPHUS
(pronounced bra-KIHR-oh-fus) Brachyrophus ("short-roof lizard")
was an ornithopod, a bipedal plant-eater. It dates from the late Jurassic
Period. Fossils were found in India. It was named by Cope in 1878 (type
species B. altarkansanus). It is a doubtful genus and may be the same
as Camptosaurus dispar.
BRADYCNEME
(pronounced BRAD-ick-NEE-mee) Bradycneme ("heavy or slow leg")
was a theropod dinosaur (a bipedal meat-eater) from the late Cretaceous
Period, about 73-65 million years ago. It may be a Troodontid. Fossils
were found in Romania in 1923. It was originally thought to be a giant
owl. It was named by paleontolgists Harrison and C. A. Walker in 1975.
The type species is B. draculae, but this genus is dubious and may actually
be Elopteryx.
BRADYSAURUS
Bradysaurus was a late Permian pareiasaur (it was not a dinosaur, but
a cotylosaurian reptile with many primitive characteristics, perhaps related
to turtles). This anapsid herbivore (plant-eater) was about 8 feet (2.5
meters) long. It was quadrupedal (it walked on four legs) and had thin
bony armor (scutes), a short tail, and claws on its stubby toes. Fossils
have been found in the Karoo Basin of South Africa.
BRANCHIOSAURUS
(pronounced BRANK-ee-oh-SAWR-us) Branchiosaurus (meaning: "gill lizard")
was a very early amphibian from early Carboniferous to the early Permian
period (roughly 300 million years ago). It was NOT a dinosaur. Like all
amphibians, they had to live near the water since amphibian eggs have
no shells and must be laid in the water (or in very damp areas) or they
will dry out and die. Fossils of these salamander-sized amphibian have
been found in Europe. They were the closest relatives of the lissamphibians.
Classification: Subclass Labyrinthodont, Order Temnospondyl, Genus Branchiosaurus,
many species.
BRETT-SURMAN, MICHAEL
Michael K. Brett-Surman (1950- ) is an American paleontologist and author.
Brett-Surman is the Museum Specialist for Dinosaurs at the Smithsonian
Institution. He named the dinosaurs Secernosaurus (1979), Gilmorosaurus
(1979), and Anatotitan. Brett-Surman grew up in Larchmont, New York. He
was an undergraduate at the University of Boulder, Colorado, and went
to graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins
University, and George Washington University (while doing research at
the Smithsonian Institute). Brett-Surman is the coeditor of The Complete
Dinosaur (with James O. Farlow - Indiana University Press, 1997), coauthor
of The World of Dinosaurs ( with Thomas Holtz, illus. by James Gurney
- Greenwich Workshop Books, 1998), coauthor of the Dinosaur Field Guide
(with Thomas Holtz - Random House, 2001), and has many other publications.
Brett-Surman was also the senior consultant for both issues of dinosaur
stamps by the US Post Office (for artists J. Gurche and J. Gurney).
BREVICERATOPS
(pronounced BREV-eh-SER-ah-tops) Breviceratops ("short-horned face")
was a ceratopsian dinosaur (a frilled, quadrupedal plant-eater with a
short snout horn) from the late Cretaceous Period. Fossils (five skulls
and some skeletal material) were found in Mongolia. It was named by paleontologist
Zurzanof in 1975. The type species is B. kozlowskii.
BRONTOPODUS
(pronounced BRON-to-PODE-us) Brontopodus ("thunder foot") was
a huge brachiosaurid sauropod dinosaur known only from its fossilized
footprints made by four clawed toes. No fossilized bones have been found,
but the may have been made by Pleurocoelus. This common inchnogenus lived
during the Jurassic Period (in Portugal) and early Cretaceous Period,
roughly 131-119 million years ago (from the Paluxy River, Texas, USA).
The long Texas trackways are unusual in that there are also tracks of
a small theropod on the same path; the theropod seems to be following
the huge sauropod. Brontopodus was named by paleontologist Farlow, J.
O., J. G. Pittman, and J. M. Hawthorne in 1989. The type species is B.
birdi (for Roland Bird).
BRONTOPS
Brontops was a large extinct rhino-like mammal, a Brontothere, that was
about 8 feet (2.5 m) tall and 13 feet (4 m) long (but its brain was only
about the size of a person's fist); it weighed perhaps about 11,000 pounds
(5,000 kg). Fossils have been found in the Badlands of South Dakota and
other parts of what is now the USA in North America. Brontops was a plant-eater
with low-crowned teeth. It had four-hoofed toes on each front foot and
three-hoofed toes on each rear foot. It lived in woodlands about 35 million
years ago, during the Oligocene period. Brontops had a pair of skin-covered
bony horns on its head. Brontops went extinct as the climate cooled and
the Ice Age began. The type species is Brontops dispar, named by paleontologist
Osborn in 1929.