Cetiosaurus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with the sauropod dinosaur Cetiosauriscus.

Cetiosaurus
Temporal range:
Ma
↓
Mounted skeleton, Leicester Museum & Art Gallery
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Sauropoda
Family: †Cetiosauridae
Subfamily: †Cetiosaurinae
Lydekker, 1888
Genus: †Cetiosaurus
Owen, 1841
Species:
†C. oxoniensis
Binomial name
†Cetiosaurus oxoniensis
Phillips, 1871

Cetiosaurus (

Period, living about 168 million years ago
in what is now Britain.

Cetiosaurus was in 1842 the first sauropod from which bones were described and is the most complete sauropod found in

marine creature, initially an extremely large crocodile, and did not recognise it for a land-dwelling dinosaur. Because of the early description many species would be named in the genus, eventually eighteen of them. Most of these have now been placed in other genera or are understood to be dubious names, based on poor fossil material. The last is true also of the original type species
, Cetiosaurus medius, and so C. oxoniensis was officially made the new type species in 2014. C. oxoniensis is based on three more or less complete specimens, discovered from 1868 onwards. Together they contain most of the bones, with the exception of the skull.

Cetiosaurus oxoniensis was a

quadrupedal, long-necked, small-headed herbivore
. It had a shorter tail and neck than most sauropods. The forelimbs on the other hand, were relatively long. C. oxoniensis is estimated to have been about 16–18 metres (52–59 ft) long and to have weighed roughly 11 tonnes (12 short tons).

Discovery and species

Initial finds

Caudal vertebra of C. longus

Cetiosaurus is, with the exception of the tooth genus Cardiodon, the first sauropod to be discovered and named as well as being the best known sauropod from England.[2] Numerous species have been assigned to Cetiosaurus over the years belonging to several different groups of sauropod dinosaurs. The genus thus functioned as a typical "wastebasket taxon".[3][4] Fossilized remains once assigned to Cetiosaurus have mainly been found in England but also in France, Switzerland and Morocco.[3]

The first fossils, vertebrae and limb elements, were discovered near

junior objective synonym of the former name.[8]

Cetiosaurus oxoniensis

Fossils of C. oxoniensis at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

In March 1868, workers near

Thomas Huxley had published a letter by Phillips in which the latter named a Cetiosaurus giganteus based on specimen OUMNH J13617, a left femur earlier found at Bletchingdon;[10] as the letter did not contain a description, this is a nomen nudum.[3]

Hind view of the Rutland C. oxoniensis mount

A century later, a new C. oxoniensis specimen (LCM G468.1968) called the "Rutland Dinosaur" was discovered on 19 June 1968 by the driver of an

chevrons, the ilium, the right femur, and rib and limb fragments.[11]

The incomplete fossil is 15 metres (49 ft) long and has been displayed since 1985 in the Leicester Museum & Art Gallery. Only the more structurally-sound parts of the dinosaur are on display, with the more-fragile parts stored elsewhere. Much of what can be seen in the display is a representation (replica), and not the actual dinosaur. The model's vertebral column seen on display has fourteen cervicals, ten dorsals, five sacrals and about fifty caudals.[3][11] The dinosaur display was taken to London to be featured on the children's television programme Blue Peter.[citation needed]

Later species

In 1874,

John Whitaker Hulke named Cetiosaurus humerocristatus, "with a crested humerus", based on specimen BMNH 44635, a humerus found that year at Sandsfoot near Weymouth in Dorset.[12] In 2010, this was made a separate genus Duriatitan.[13] In 1905, Arthur Smith Woodward renamed Ornithopsis leedsii Hulke 1887 into Cetiosaurus leedsi.[14] This today is often considered a nomen dubium.[3] In 1970 Rodney Steel renamed Cardiodon Owen 1841, based on a now lost tooth, into Cetiosaurus rugulosus, "the wrinkled one".[15] If the species were cogeneric to Cetiosaurus, the name of the genus would however be Cardiodon as this name has priority. In 2003, Upchurch & Martin rejected the identity.[3]

In addition to the thirteen species based on British material, three were named by French researchers. In 1874,

Eric Buffetaut e.a. referred a chevron found in the French Ardennes, specimen A775, to a Cetiosaurus sp.[20]

A Cetiosaurus species has been based on Swiss material. In 1932, Friedrich von Huene renamed Ornithopsis greppini Huene 1922 into Cetiosaurus greppini.[21] This is today considered a nomen dubium.[22] In 2020, it was proposed to assigned C. greppini to the new genus Amanzia.[23]

The question of the type species

1871 illustration of material referred to C. oxoniensis

In principle for every genus a type species must be indicated to serve as its type in an ostensive definition. Traditionally, C. medius had been considered the type species of Cetiosaurus. In 1888 Richard Lydekker had formally assigned C. oxoniensis as the type species but by the modern rules of the ICZN one of the species named by the original author, in this case Owen, must be selected. In 2003, Paul Upchurch and John Martin determined that C. "hypoolithicus" and C. "epioolithicus" could not be used because they were nomina nuda. Of the four species named in Owen's second 1842 article, C. brevis, C. brachyurus, C. longus and C. medius, only C. brevis would not be a nomen dubium. This they interpreted as implying that C. brevis was the type species. This conclusion, if correct, would cause considerable taxonomic instability, because the genus Pelorosaurus had since been based on its fossils, and recognized as a totally different kind of sauropod. Therefore, Upchurch & Martin suggested to request the ICZN to change the type species into C. oxoniensis, the best known species from the Middle Jurassic, which the genus Cetiosaurus had generally come to be identified with.[3][4]

However, in 2009, when their request was officially filed, Upchurch and Martin had changed their position. They acknowledged that being designated a nomen dubium does not prevent a species from having been made the type of a genus. Furthermore, they had identified a passage in the 1842 article in which Owen himself had already assigned C. medius as the

metacarpal
, OUMNH J13748), and a claw (OUMNH J13721), probably from different fossil sites and different individuals.

The ICZN accepted the proposal to change the type species in 2014 (Opinion 2331), officially making C. oxoniensis the type species in place of the original C. medius.[24] Making C. oxoniensis the type species of Cetiosaurus secured the name Cetiosaurus for the animal with which it has been traditionally associated.[4]

Valid Species

Right scapula of C. oxoniensis

The complex naming history can be summarised in a list of Cetiosaurus species:

  • Cetiosaurus oxoniensis Phillips, 1871: type species of Cetiosaurus

Doubtful species

  • Cetiosaurus hypoolithicus Owen, 1841: nomen nudum
  • Cetiosaurus epioolithicus Owen, 1841: nomen nudum
  • Cetiosaurus brachyurus Owen, 1842: nomen dubium
  • Cetiosaurus longus Owen, 1842: nomen dubium; = Cetiosauriscus longus (Owen, 1842) McIntosh, 1990
  • Cetiosaurus medius Owen, 1842: nomen dubium
  • Cetiosaurus giganteus Owen vide Huxley, 1870: nomen nudum
  • Cetiosaurus philippsi Sauvage, 1880

Misassigned and reclassified species

Description

Size comparison

Cetiosaurus, or specifically the neotype species C. oxoniensis, is known from relatively complete fossils. These include the three skeletons found by Phillips. One of these is a larger animal (catalogued as OUMNH J13605–13613, J13615–16, J13619–J13688 and J13899), which was chosen by Upchurch & Martin as the

lectotype of the species; the second consists of limb bones of a smaller individual (OUMNH J13614) and the third skeleton represents the shoulder blade and hindlimb of a juvenile animal (OUMNNH J13617–8, J13780–1). The Rutland specimen, about 40% complete, increases considerably the number of known skeletal elements, especially in the neck. The skull is largely unknown, perhaps with the exception of the brain case represented by specimen OUMNH J13596.[25] A single tooth crown, OUMNH J13597, has provisionally been referred to the species.[3]

quadrupedal animal. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated the body length at 16 metres (52 ft) and body mass at 11 tonnes (12 short tons).[26] Its neck was moderately long; no longer than its body. The tail was considerably longer, consisting of at least forty caudal vertebrae. Its dorsal vertebrae, the bones along the back, had the original heavy build with limited air chambers, unlike the extremely hollowed-out bones of later sauropods like Brachiosaurus. Its forearm was as long as the upper arm, unlike most other sauropods, resulting in a forelimb equalling the hindlimb in length. Its thigh bone
was approximately six feet long.

Skeletal drawing of C. oxoniensis

In his original descriptions, Owen was unable to indicate any differences between Cetiosaurus and other sauropods for the simple reason these latter were not yet discovered. Now that such relatives have been found, the uniqueness of Cetiosaurus oxoniensis and its status as a valid

pubic bone was attached, features on the outer surface of its base a triangular depression.[3]

Classification and phylogeny

Right femur of C. oxoniensis

Owen initially was unsure about the precise relationships of Cetiosaurus. He understood it was a

Thomas Huxley stated explicitly that Cetiosaurus was a dinosaur.[30]

In 1888 Lydekker assigned Cetiosaurus to its own family: the

paraphyletic and recover Cetiosaurus oxoniensis in a basal position in the Eusauropoda, basal in the Neosauropoda[32] or just outside of this clade.[33]

Paleobiology

Other dinosaurs roughly contemporaneous to Cetiosaurus include the theropod dinosaurs

thyreophorans and paravians.[34][35] The environment in which Cetiosaurus lived was floodplain and open woodland. Paul considered Cetiosaurus a feeding generalist,[26]
eating at both a low and a medium-high level, in view of its moderately long neck and limb proportions.

References

  1. ^ "Cetiosaurus". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
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  3. ^
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  4. ^
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  5. ^ Owen, R., 1841, "A description of a portion of the skeleton of the Cetiosaurus, a gigantic extinct saurian reptile occurring in the oolitic formations of different portions of England", Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 3: 457–462
  6. ^ Owen, R., 1842, "Second rapport sur les reptiles fossiles de la Grande-Bretagne", L’Institut, Journal général des Sociétés et Travaux Scientifique de la France et de l’Étranger 10: 11–13
  7. ^ Owen, R., 1842, "Report on British Fossil reptiles, Pt. II". Reports of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 11: 60–204
  8. ^ Melville, A.G., 1849, "Notes on the vertebral column of Iguanodon", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 139: 285–300
  9. ^ J. Phillips. 1871. Geology of Oxford and the Valley of the Thames. Clarendon Press, Oxford 523 pp
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  12. ^ Hulke, J.W., 1874, "Note on a very large saurian limb-bone adapted for progression upon land, from the Kimmeridge clay of Weymouth, Dorset", Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 30(1–4): 16–17
  13. ^ Barrett, P.M., Benson, R.B.J. & Upchurch, P., 2010, "Dinosaurs of Dorset: Part II, the sauropod dinosaurs (Saurischia, Sauropoda) with additional comments on the theropods", Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 131: 113–126
  14. ^ Woodward, A.S., 1905, "On parts of skeleton of Cetiosaurus leedsi, a sauropodous dinosaur from the Oxford Clay of Peterborough", Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1: 232–243
  15. ^ Steel, R., 1970, Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie 14, 87 pp
  16. ^ Sauvage, H.-E., 1874, "Mémoire sur les dinosauriens et les crocodiliens des terrains jurassiques de Boulogne-sur-Mer", Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France, série 2 10(2): 1–57
  17. ^ Sauvage, H.-E., 1903, "Note sur quelques reptiles du Jurassique supérieur du Boulonnais", Bulletin de la Société académique de l'arrondissement de Boulogne-sur-Mer, 6: 380–398
  18. ^ Sauvage, H.-E., 1880, "Sur les dinosauriens jurassiques", Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, 3e série 8: 522–524
  19. ^ A-F. de Lapparent, 1955, "Étude paléontologique des vertébrés du Jurassique d'El Mers (Moyen Atlas), Notes et Mémoires du Service Géologique du Maroc 124: 1–36
  20. ^ E. Buffetaut, B. Gibout, I. Launois, C. Delacroix, 2011, "The sauropod dinosaur Cetiosaurus OWEN in the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of the Ardennes (NE France): insular, but not dwarf"/"Le sauropode dinosaurien Cetiosaurus OWEN dans le Bathonien (Jurassique Moyen) des Ardennes (NE France) : insulaire, mais pas nain", Carnets de Géologie, 2011: 149–161
  21. ^ Huene, F. von, 1932, Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte, Monographien zur Geologie und Palaeontologie, serie 1, heft 4, 361 pp
  22. ^ P.D. Mannion, P. Upchurch, O. Mateus, R.N. Barnes, and M.E.H. Jones, 2012, "New information on the anatomy and systematic position of Dinheirosaurus lourinhanensis (Sauropoda: Diplodocoidea) from the Late Jurassic of Portugal, with a review of European diplodocoids", Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(3): 521–551
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  24. ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 2014. "OPINION 2331 (Case 3472): Cetiosaurus Owen, 1841 (Dinosauria, Sauropoda): usage conserved by designation of Cetiosaurus oxoniensis Phillips, 1871 as the type species". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 71(1): 48-50
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  26. ^ a b Paul, G.S., 2010, The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, Princeton University Press p. 177
  27. ^ F.A. Quenstedt, 1851, Handbuch der Petrefaktenkunde, H. Laupp'schen, Tübingen 792 pp
  28. ^ R. Owen, 1859, Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck formations. Supplement no. II. Crocodilia, The Palaeontographical Society, London 1857: 20-44
  29. ^ R. Owen. 1861. Palaeontology, or a Systematic Summary of Extinct Animals and their Geological Relations. Second Edition. Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh 463 pp
  30. ^ Debus A.A. (1994). "Mysterious Giants: Historical Sauropods". Dinosaur Report (Spring): 8–9.
  31. ^ R. Lydekker. 1888. Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I, Containing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria. British Museum (Natural History), London 309 pp
  32. ^ J.A. Wilson, 2002, "Sauropod dinosaur phylogeny: critique and cladistic analysis", Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 136: 217-276
  33. ^ D.T. Ksepka and M.A. Norell, 2010, "The Illusory Evidence for Asian Brachiosauridae: New Material of Erketu ellisoni and a Phylogenetic Reappraisal of Basal Titanosauriformes", American Museum Novitates 3700: 1-27
  34. doi:10.1002/spp2.1487
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  35. doi:10.1016/j.pgeola.2019.02.003
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Bibliography
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