Cetiosauridae

Cetiosauridae is a family of sauropod dinosaurs which was first proposed by Richard Lydekker in 1888. While traditionally a wastebasket taxon containing various unrelated species, some recent studies have found that it may represent a natural clade. Alongside Cetiosaurus from the Middle Jurassic of Britain, other taxa recently assigned to the family include Lapparentosaurus from the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar, and Patagosaurus from the late Early-Middle Jurassic of Patagonia, which share autapomorphies with Cetiosaurus that are not shared by other eusauropods. Additionally, at least one study has suggested that the mamenchisaurids may represent a sub-group of the cetiosaurids, which would be termed Mamenchisaurinae.

Cetiosauridae

Titanichamster · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
cetiosauridPBDB
Sits inside
EusauropodaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Sauropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, gregariousPBDB, for Sauropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Sauropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Sauropoda

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 180.4 Mya to 143.1 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 201.4 Mya to 137.05 Mya.

Late Triassic — about 0 of 15 occurrencesEarly Jurassic — about 5 of 15 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 8 of 15 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 2 of 15 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 1 of 15 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous203–200 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences200–198 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences198–196 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences196–194 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences194–192 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences192–189 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences189–187 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences187–185 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences185–183 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences183–180 Mya — about 3 occurrences180–178 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences178–176 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences176–174 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences174–171 Mya — about 2 occurrences171–169 Mya — about 2 occurrences169–167 Mya — about 1 occurrence167–165 Mya — about 1 occurrence165–163 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences163–160 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences160–158 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences158–156 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences156–154 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences154–151 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences151–149 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences149–147 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences147–145 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences145–142 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences142–140 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences140–138 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences138–136 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences180.4 Mya143.1 Mya203 Mya136 Mya

15 occurrences of Cetiosauridae on record, most of them in the Middle Jurassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

15 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Cañadón Asfalto — 43.42°S, 69.16°WZiliujing — 29.55°N, 104.65°EZiliujing — 29.80°N, 104.85°EZiliujing — 29.39°N, 104.82°EAïssa — 32.74°N, 1.07°WShaximiao — 29.41°N, 104.85°E

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The named rock units Cetiosauridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 5 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cetiosauridae and its relatives

Middle Jurassic

Where Cetiosauridae and its relatives were recorded in the Middle Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

85 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 15 sites for Cetiosauridae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

10 references

Each of the 15 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Cetiosauridae

Credit
Titanichamster
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cetiosauridae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itEusauropoda through timeFormations of the Middle JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Lydekker 1888)