Cetiosauriscus
Cetiosauriscus | |
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Composite photo of the mounted holotype skeleton shortly before display in 1905 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | †Sauropodomorpha |
Clade: | †Sauropoda |
Clade: | †Gravisauria |
Clade: | †Eusauropoda |
Genus: | †Cetiosauriscus von Huene, 1927[2] |
Species: | †C. stewarti
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Binomial name | |
†Cetiosauriscus stewarti |
Cetiosauriscus (. It has been estimated as about 15 m (49 ft) long and between 4 and 10 t (3.9 and 9.8 long tons; 4.4 and 11.0 short tons) in weight.
The only known
Cetiosauriscus was found in the marine deposits of the
History of discovery
Background
The fossil later known as Cetiosauriscus was originally ascribed to the genus
Another English taxon,
Discovery and naming
The sauropod fossil today known as Cetiosauriscus stewarti was discovered in May
The amount of material made NHMUK R3078 the most complete sauropod specimen from the
NHMUK R3078 was referred in 1905 by Arthur Woodward to the species Cetiosaurus leedsii, as it was from the same geologic formation as other specimens that were assigned to C. leedsii.[10] Woodward also referred the dorsal vertebrae NHMUK R1984 and the tail tip NHMUK R1967 to the species.[7][10] In 1927, Huene briefly described the anatomy of the species C. leedsii, where he noted that it shared many similarities with Haplocanthosaurus and was most likely between Cetiosaurus proper and the former genus. For this reason, Huene proposed the new genus name Cetiosauriscus for the species.[2] To the genus he referred the specimens NHMUK R1984–R1988 and NHMUK R3078.[14]
Misassigned species
Huene (1927) assigned "Ornithopsis" greppini, which he had named in 1922, to the genus Cetiosauriscus. The known material, discovered in Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) deposits in the Reuchenette Formation of Switzerland, includes dorsal and caudal vertebrae, forelimb bones, and a hindlimb and partial pes, from at least two individuals.[18] The 53 cm (21 in) long humerus was built like Cetiosauriscus stewarti (C. leedsi of von Huene's 1927 usage), and the two species were originally distinguished from Cetiosaurus by having shorter dorsal vertebrae, a shorter forelimb, and a longer lower leg.[19] Similarities such as the anatomy of the caudal vertebrae were suggested by Christian Meyer and Basil Thüring in 2003 to support the referral of greppini to Cetiosauriscus.[18] However, Weishampel et al. (2004) and Whitlock (2011) considered "Cetiosauriscus" greppini to be Eusauropoda incertae sedis, while Hofer (2005) and Schwarz et al. (2007) concluded that "Cetiosauriscus" greppini represents an unnamed genus of basal eusauropod.[15][20][21][22] "Ornithopsis" greppini was finally named as the new genus Amanzia in 2020.[23]
The species Cetiosaurus longus, named in 1842 by Owen, was referred to the genus Cetiosauriscus without comment by sauropod palaeontologist John Stanton McIntosh in 1990.
Cetiosaurus glymptonensis, named on the basis of nine middle-distal caudal centra from the Forest Marble Formation of Oxfordshire, England, was referred to Cetiosauriscus by McIntosh in 1990. These caudal vertebrae were considered to be more elongate than those of Cetiosaurus oxoniensis, but caudal length proportions vary significantly throughout the tail and in different taxa, Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and Cetiosauriscus having similarly elongate caudal vertebrae.[4] The more anterior caudals have a large ridge two-thirds up the centrum and a smaller ridge one-third up. These ridges are similar to the middle caudals of Cetiosauriscus. Still, they are absent in caudals of the same size and proportions, and because of this difference the species was concluded to be separate from Cetiosauriscus by Upchurch and Martin in 2003.[4] "Cetiosaurus" glymptonensis is considered to be Eusauropoda incertae sedis by Upchurch and Martin (2003), Weishampel and colleagues (2004) and Whitlock (2011), and is in need of a new genus name because it has a single diagnostic feature, the lateral ridges.[4][15][20]
In 1980, Charig described a specimen of indeterminate diplodocid from the Early Cretaceous of England, and re-examined the holotype of Cetiosauriscus leedsii to compare its characteristics. In this publication he confirmed that the ilium of the holotype of C. leedsii, NHMUK R1988, was too incomplete to be compared to the also incomplete ilium of the referred specimen NHMUK R3078. Because of the lack of overlap the referral of NHMUK R3078 to Cetiosauriscus leedsii was no longer verifiable, so Charig named the new species Cetiosauriscus stewarti for NHMUK R3078. The specific name was chosen to honour Sir Ronald Stewart, the chairman of the London Brick Company that owned the clay pit the fossils had been found in. Furthermore, Charig considered Cetiosauriscus leedsii and Cetiosauriscus greppini to be dubious taxa, making C. stewarti the only valid species within Cetiosauriscus.[1] Because of the invalidity of the type species C. leedsii, Charig made a petition to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) in 1993 to designate Cetiosauriscus stewarti as the type species of its genus, being the taxon containing the specimen Huene had originally named the genus for and distinguished from Cetiosaurus, and also a taxonomically more stable name.[14] This was accepted by the ICZN in 1995, making Cetiosauriscus stewarti the type species of Cetiosauriscus.[25] The only specimen that can confidently be assigned to C. stewarti is the holotype NHMUK R3078, although it is possible that isolated teeth from the Oxford Clay could be from the taxon.[7][17]
Description
Cetiosauriscus was a moderately sized, quadrupedal eusauropod. It had a moderately long tail, and relatively long arms making the shoulders level with the hips. Cetiosauriscus was approximately 15 m (49 ft) long based on the known skeleton, comparable to possible relatives like 16 m (52 ft) long Cetiosaurus, and 16.5 m (54 ft) long Patagosaurus.[26] The weight of Cetiosauriscus is less certain, depending on its phylogenetic placement. Restored as a diplodocid, Cetiosauriscus was estimated by Paul (2010[27]) as 4 t (3.9 long tons; 4.4 short tons), but restored as a cetiosaur it was estimated by Paul (2016[26]) as 10 t (9.8 long tons; 11 short tons).[26][27]
Vertebrae
The dorsal vertebrae of NHMUK R3078 are incomplete or fragmentary. A partial anterior dorsal is known from a single centrum, which is about as long as wide, with a strong anterior articular ball (an
Of the anterior four caudal vertebrae, the anteriormost two are highly incomplete. Both the short, but wider-than-tall, centra preserve traces of the sideways projections (
Appendicular skeleton
Cetiosauriscus preserves a single right scapula (shoulder blade), which is elongate and slender. The scapula is 96.5 cm (38.0 in) long and 17.5 cm (6.9 in) wide at the middle, making it very narrow.[10][29] The inner face is flat across, while the outer face is gently convex. There is no expansion of the far end of the blade. The bone thickens close to the humerus joint, where it also articulates with the coracoid. The coracoid is incomplete, but enough is preserved to show it is rectangular, and longer, at 35 cm (14 in), than it is wide—38 cm (15 in). A 94 cm (37 in) long humerus is known, and complete with minimal crushing. The bone is short and stout, with a robust crest for the deltoid muscle along the upper half of the bone.[10] The shape of the humerus is similar to the shortness of Neuquensaurus, although overall the forelimb is long, as in Diplodocus and Cetiosaurus, being 69% of the femur length.[29][15] The distal end is roughened for a large cartilage cap as found in some other eusauropods like "Cetiosauriscus" greppini.[18] The radius and ulna are broken, but complete they would have been 76 cm (30 in) long.[10]
The hindlimb of Cetiosauriscus is about 3⁄2 the length of the forelimb. Both ilia are very fragmentary, but the two sides supplement each other to give a reasonable idea of the proportions of the complete bone. The ilium is 1.02 m (3.3 ft) long, and has a long and slender pubic
Classification
Cetiosauriscus was originally classified by Huene as a genus in the
David S. Berman and McIntosh in
A
Eusauropoda |
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Palaeobiology
Palaeopathology
The series of distal caudal vertebrae NHMUK R1967, once referred to Cetiosauriscus, is similar to the caudals of Diplodocus, with two convex ends (biconvex) and a long and thin centrum. These caudals display signs of injury at two points along the series of ten vertebrae, where there are signs of breakage that was later healed.[10] These lesions were identified as the same form of pathologies as found on the tail of Diplodocus.[35] It has been suggested that the biconvex distal caudal vertebrae in sauropods were used for making whip-like cracking noise, being thin and delicate and not intended for impact, as the joints would be very vulnerable to damage rendering them useless.[36]
Palaeoecology
Cetiosauriscus lived during the Callovian, an
The intermediate sauropod
Hundreds of
Notes
- objective synonym of the original spelling.[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-897-34053-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g h von Huene, F. (1927). "Short review of the present knowledge of the Sauropoda" (PDF). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 8: 121–126.
- ^ "Cetiosauriscus". The Natural History Museum. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
- ^ S2CID 55360032.
- ^ .
- ^ S2CID 248534477.
- ^ )
- S2CID 130462725.
- S2CID 128431891.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Woodward, A.S. (1905). "On parts of the skeleton of Cetiosaurus Leedsi, a sauropodous dinosaur from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1 (January–April): 232–243.
- ISBN 978-0-12-226810-6.
- ^ a b "UK Inflation Calculator". CPI Inflation Calculator. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
- ^ S2CID 220410105.
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.
- S2CID 19004679.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-901702-46-3.
- ^ .
- ^ Huene, F. V. (1927). "Short review of the present knowledge of the Sauropoda". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 9: 121–126.
- ^ .
- ^ Hofer, C. (2005). Osteologie und Taxonomie von Cetiosauriscus greppini (Huene 1927a, b) aus dem späten Jura von Moutier (Reuchenette Formation) [Osteology and taxonomy of Cetiosauriscus greppini (Huene 1927a, b) from the Late Jurassic of Moutier (Reuchenette Formation)]. Unpublished Diploma thesis, University of Basel, p. 70.
- ^ Schwarz, D., Wings, O., & Meyer, C. A. (2007). Taxonomische und systematische Revision von Cetiosauriscus greppini (Sauropoda). In O. Elicki & J. W. Schneider (Eds.), Fossile Ökosysteme (Vol. 36, p. 147). Wissenschaftliche Mitteilungen, Institut für Geologie: Freiberg.
- S2CID 211265622.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-25408-4.
- ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1995). "Opinion 1801. Cetiosauriscus Huene, 1927 (Reptilia, Sauropodomorpha): Cetiosauriscus stewarti Charig, 1980 designated as type species". The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 52: 113.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-691-16766-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-691-13720-9.
- ^ PMID 25870766.
- ^ a b c d e von Huene, F. (1932). "Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte" [The fossil reptile order Saurischia, their development and history] (PDF). Monographien zur Geologie und Paläontologie (in German). 1 (4): 1–361. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-226-72487-4.
- S2CID 251483394.
- .
- JSTOR 56238.
- ^ S2CID 4385136.
- ^ Moodie, R.L. (1917). "Studies in paleopathology. I. General consideration of the evidence of pathological conditions found among fossil animals". Annals of Medical History. 1: 374–393.
- S2CID 83696153.
- ISBN 978-0-375-82419-7.
- ^ "Peterborough Member". The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. British Geological Survey. 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
- ^ Riding, J.B. (2004). "A palynological investigation of the Oxford Clay Formation and the Quaternary succession of Northamptonshire (Sheets 171 and 186)" (PDF). British Geological Survey Internal Report. IR/04/046: 1–8.
Further reading
- Schwartz, D.; Wings, O.; Meyer, C.A. (2007). "Super sizing the giants: the first cartilage preservation at a sauropod limb joint". Journal of the Geological Society. 164: 61–65. S2CID 53397766.
External links
- "Cetiosauriscus". Fossilworks—Gateway to the Paleobiology Database.
- "Cetiosauriscus stewarti". Fossilworks—Gateway to the Paleobiology Database.