Dippy

This article is about the dinosaur fossil in Pittsburgh. For its replica in London, see Dippy (London). For the statue in Pittsburgh, see Dippy (statue).

Dippy
Catalog no.CM 84
Common nameDippy
SpeciesDiplodocus carnegii
Age145–156 Ma[1]
Place discoveredSheep Creek Quarry D, near Medicine Bow, Wyoming; upper 10 m (33 ft) of the Talking Rock facies of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation
Date discoveredJuly 4, 1899
Discovered byWilliam Harlow Reed

Dippy is a composite Diplodocus skeleton in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the holotype of the species Diplodocus carnegii. It is considered the most famous single dinosaur skeleton in the world, due to the numerous plaster casts donated by Andrew Carnegie to several major museums around the world at the beginning of the 20th century.[2][3]

The casting and distribution of the skeleton made the word dinosaur a household word;[4] for millions of people it became the first dinosaur they had ever seen.[5] It was also responsible for the subsequent popularity of the entire genus Diplodocus, since the skeleton has been on display in more places than any other sauropod dinosaur.[6]

Its discovery was catalyzed by the announcement of the excavation of a large thigh bone (unrelated to Dippy) by William Harlow Reed near Medicine Bow, Wyoming in December 1898.[7] On a return trip financed by Carnegie, Reed excavated Sheep Creek Quarry D in which he found the first part of Dippy's skeleton, a toe bone, on July 4, 1899.[8] Its discovery on Independence Day, and its use in American diplomacy via Carnegie's international donations of replicas, led to its being nicknamed the "star-spangled dinosaur".[9] Dippy became the centrepiece of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, such that the museum became known as "the house that Dippy built".[4][10]

In 2016, a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature was being considered which proposed to make Diplodocus carnegii the new type species of Diplodocus.[11] The proposal was rejected in 2018, and D. longus has been maintained as the type species.[11][12]

  1. ^ Dippy: this is your life, Natural History Museum, Matthew Prosser, January 1, 2016
  2. ^ Ulrich Merkl 2015, p. 78"Although it narrowly failed to win the race with the New York Museum of Natural History in 1905, the Diplodocus carnegii is the most famous dinosaur skeleton today, due to the large number of casts in museums around the world"
  3. ^ Breithaupt, 2013, p. 49: ""Dippy" was and still is the most widely seen and best-known dinosaur ever found."
  4. ^ a b Moore 2014, p. 117.
  5. ^ Rea 2004, p. 11.
  6. ^ "Diplodocus." In: Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International, Ltd. pp. 58–59. ISBN 0-7853-0443-6.
  7. ^ Lowell Dingus 2018, pp. 290–291.
  8. ^ Breithaupt, 2013, p. 49
  9. ^ Ulrich Merkl 2015, p. 80.
  10. ^ Krishtalka, Leonard (May 16, 2018). The Bone Field. Gatekeeper Press. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-1-64237-016-4.
  11. ^ a b Tschopp, E.; Mateus, O. (2016). "Diplodocus Marsh, 1878 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda): proposed designation of D. carnegii Hatcher, 1901 as the type species". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 73 (1): 17–24. doi:10.21805/bzn.v73i1.a22. S2CID 89131617.
  12. ^ ICZN. (2018). "Opinion 2425 (Case 3700) – Diplodocus Marsh, 1878 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda): Diplodocus longus Marsh, 1878 maintained as the type species". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 75 (1): 285–287. doi:10.21805/bzn.v75.a062. S2CID 92845326.