Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus, often incorrectly referred to as Brontosaurus, was a type of sauropod dinosaur, on prehistoric Earth. They were big, bulky, vegetarians with incredibly long necks. They, like all other dinosaurs, were killed when the Cyber-Controller's ship crashed into the Earth. (DW: Earthshock) A few Apatosaurs were briefly transported to the 1970s era London by Operation Golden Age. (DW: Invasion of the Dinosaurs) This was mentioned by the Fourth Doctor following his regeneration. (DW: Robot).

The Apatosaurus was also native to the planet Raxas. Unlike most of the other dinosaur species on Raxas, they were rather non-violent. (DWBIT: #7)

Behind the scenes

In taxonomy, the name applied to the first discovered specimen has primacy. The names of subsequent finds were misidentified as different genuses which, when correctly identified, were reclassified. The first "Brontosaurus" was a larger and more complete skeleton which led this name to become more rooted in popular culture.