Outline: a typical sauropod
Cetiosaurus
SEE-tee-oh-SORE-us
"whale lizard"
- Lived
- 171 to 165 million years ago, Middle Jurassic
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 18 m (59 ft)
- Group
- Sauropods
- Found in
- United Kingdom and Morocco
- Named by
- Owen 1841
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical sauropod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
170 million years ago
Also reported from France.
Field notes
About Cetiosaurus
What it was like
Cetiosaurus was an early long-necked plant eater, about 18 meters (59 feet) long. It walked on four legs, had a long neck and tail, and its back bones were solid rather than hollowed out like those of later sauropods.
Its world
Most of its fossils come from the Middle Jurassic of England, in rocks such as the Forest Marble and the Chipping Norton Limestone, where it lived beside the meat eater Megalosaurus. Other finds come from Morocco and France.
Some bones once linked to the genus are much younger and probably belong to other animals.
How it was found
Owen named Cetiosaurus in 1841. He thought its huge bones came from a sea creature, hence the name. It was the first sauropod ever named, and over the years many species were added to it; most have since been moved or dropped.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Gravisauria
Sources: WikidataNamed in: R. Owen. 1841. 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, part 2(80):457-462