this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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Paleontology nerd here. There isn't an official term for the tail spikes, but thagomizer is pretty much an unoffcial official term.
I mean... if you don't have an official term for it, but basically everyone in your field calls it a thagomizer, does that not make thagomizer the official term? If not, what makes a term "official"?
Well, whats the official term? If its just tail spikes I will be very disappointed
I think they just said there isn't an official term
Oh I'm an absolute buffoon, I thought he said THAT isn't the official term
Haha no worries at all :)
ok but what's the official term?
Pretty much. Thagomizer is used in literature, but not always. I would say it is officially recognized, but semi-officially used
I just got the notification for this, sorry. There isn't a real official term other than tail spikes, but iirc thagomizer has been used in literature, such as this paper describing a new specimen of a stegosaur from Portugal and its impacts on the taxonomy of stegosaurs