Paging the palaeontologists

[matgb]

Via theweaselking, Palaeos Vertebrates: Glossary Ta - Th:

Thagomizer: this started out as a Far Side joke, but has now more or less become a part of the serious anatomical literature. The thagomizer is the, otherwise difficult to describe, collection of spikes at the end of a stegosaurid's tail. It is named after the late Thag

Is that for real?

Comments

[tinuvielberen.livejournal.com]

I Googled it - seems to be genuine, though one source said the term hadn't appeared in any "peer-reviewed journals."

Weirder things have happened in science, however. Are you familiar with the Sonic Hedgehog gene?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Scientists love Larson. You're aware there's a dung beetle species named for him?

[lokean.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's really a term used by paleobiologists; I don't know if it's been used in peer reviewed papers but it has appeared in print in a popular science periodical (New Scientist, July 2006).

[innerbrat]

I'm not answering this question until you put a's into the post subject and tag.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Have you never been introduced to Molecules with Silly Names? (http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/sillymolecules/sillymols.htm) Clever Gene Names? (http://tinman.nikunnakki.info/) or Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature? (http://home.earthlink.net/~misaak/taxonomy.html)

Still I'm glad you know about the awesomeness of Palaeos.