Sunday, 15 November 2026

First named dinosaur bone received the name Scrotum humanum in the 18th century

First named dinosaur bone received the name Scrotum humanum in the 18th century

This is the first dinosaur bone to receive a name, in the eighteenth century. It was christened Scrotum humanum, that is, the human scrotum. Why, I think, hardly needs explaining. The term does not, of course, conform to the Linnaean binomial, being rather descriptive in character. Some suppose that it was a fragment of the bone of a Megalosaurus, though the theory is doubtful.

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