Anabelle, Lyle and Nic-Mic belong in the genus Camarasaurus, Family Camarasauridae, Suborder Sauropoda, and Order Saurischia.  Sauropods are the giant, plant-eating, long-neck dinosaurs.  Camarasaurs are cousins to the most famous sauropod, Brontosaurus (Now known as Apatosaurus), which is in the sauropod family, Diplodocidae.  Sauropoda and Theropoda (all meat-eating dinosaurs) form the Order Saurischia.  As a "living example" of classification, you are of the Genus Homo, Family Hominidae, Order Primates, and Class Mammalia.

Dinosaurs include two main groups of reptiles: saurischians ("lizard-hipped") and ornithischians ("bird-hipped").  Dinosaurs first appeared in the middle Triassic about 220 million years ago and were the dominant land animals --the top meat-eaters and plant-eaters in the food web--throughout the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.  This amounts to most of the Mesozoic Era or about 135 million years.  In terms of the length of their reign, dinosaurs are the most successful land animals (so far).  Mammals have only dominated for the past 65 million years, but have filled a greater diversity of niches (e.g., flyers, and fully aquatic and fossorial forms).

Back in the good ol' days (circa the 1600's), it became standard practice in European science to use the classical languages of Latin and Greek in scientific nomenclature.  Most dinosaur names are derived from Greek.  Unfortunately, few Americans study these languages any more, so scientific names seem like mouthfuls, but they are quite simple-minded.  Organisms are usually named after a character they possess, the place where they were found, and/or in honor of a person.  Etymology (study of word origins) is a fun game (and even useful in the "real world").

Camara saurus = chambered lizard. Camarasaurus is named for its "hollow" spaces in the backbones (vertebrae).  Sauropods had very strong vertebrae to support such great weight, but their "flying buttress" vertebral architecture saved on materials and weight, giving long-neck dinosaur vertebrae a more "hollow" look compared to typical animal backbones (vertebrate vertebrae).

Lyle is now being prepared in Science City, in Kansas City, MO. This link will take you to the dinolab page.

Annabelle photograph in the main page © 2001, made available courtesy of Dr. John Chorn.

Annabelle in the ground during the 1998 dig