Formality of the Term "Thagomizer"

While I've been doing some reading and writing for my PhD comps exam, I've tangentially discovered that the term thagomizer is not in the 783-page Glossary of Geology (5th edition, revised 2011). I was under the assumption that the term, coined in Gary Larsen's The Far Side comic strip for the spiky bits of a Stegosaurus' tail, has entered mainstream usage. However, it appears that it hasn't quite attained formality in scientific literature, much to my dismay.



(image credit: ©Gary Larsen/Wikimedia)


The Glossary of Geology includes several anatomical names used in paleontology (e.g. orbit, tibia, glabella, and gizzard), but the thagomizer didn't make the cut. Although it has recently become used in the scientific literature (Costa and Mateus, 2019).

This got me wondering if there are any terms used for the bony plates that protrude from the Stegosaurus' back. Unfortunately, I have not found any such endearing name for these like the thagomizer, just broad terms such as osteoderms (Seidel, 1979) or plates (armor/dorsal plates) (Lull, 1910). Perhaps Gary Larsen ought to make another contribution to the Stegosaur nomenclature.



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