In Depth
Mad props to Kenneth Carpenter for naming a dinosaur Gojirasaurus. For those not familiar with the name, Gojira is the name of probably the most famous Japanese giant monster of all time that in the western world is better known as Godzilla. A little more information for fans and film buffs, Gojira is actually a combination of the Japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira).
Cool names aside, Gojirasaurus is considered by some to be a dubious dinosaur genus. The vertebrae originally assigned to Gojirasaurus have since been interpreted as belonging to Shuvosaurus. Other remains, specifically a tibia and hip are near identical to those of Coelophysis, though this genus is only thought to grow up to three meters long, much smaller than the five and a half meters suggested for Gojirasaurus. Hopefully further fossil discoveries can be discovered in the future that will reveal more detail about these two dinosaur genera.
Further Reading
– A giant coelophysoid (Ceratosauria) theropod from the Upper Triassic of New Mexico, USA, Kenneth Carpenter - 1997. – A critical re-evaluation of the Late Triassic dinosaur taxa of North America, Nesbitt & Parker - 2007
