Apatosaurus which Marsh had described "Brontosaurus". Most of the skeleton was found, and after comparison with both "Brontosaurus" and "Apatosaurus ajax", Riggs realized that the holotype of "A.ajax" was immature, and thus the features distinguishing the genera were not valid. Since "Apatosaurus" was the earlier name, "Brontosaurus" should be considered a junior synonym of "Apatosaurus". Because of this, Riggs recombined "Brontosaurus excelsus" as "Apatosaurus excelsus". Based on comparisons with other species proposed to belong to "Apatosaurus", Riggs also determined that the Field Columbian Museum specimen was likely most similar to "A.excelsus". Despite Riggs' publication, Henry Fairfield Osborn, who was a strong
Apatosaurus names; he grouped "Apatosaurus" within Opisthocoelia. Sauropoda is still used as the group name. In 2011, John Whitlock published a study that placed "Apatosaurus" a more basal diplodocid, sometimes less basal than "Supersaurus". Cladogram of the Diplodocidae after Tschopp, Mateus, and Benson (2015). It was believed throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries that sauropods like "Apatosaurus" were too massive to support their own weight on dry land. It was theorized that they lived partly submerged in water, perhaps in swamps. More recent findings do not support this; sauropods are now thought to have been fully terrestrial animals. A study