Pronunciation: see-TIE-o-SOR-uh-day
Author: Lydekker
Year: 1888
Meaning: Whale lizards (see etymology)
Locomotion: Quadrupedal (four legs)
Synonyms: None known
Author: Lydekker
Year: 1888
Meaning: Whale lizards (see etymology)
Locomotion: Quadrupedal (four legs)
Synonyms: None known
[Upchurch et al., 2004]Definition
Those sauropods more closely related to Cetiosaurus than to Saltasaurus.
About
Traditionally a "waste basket" for catching all manner of unrelated sauropods from all places and times, Cetiosauridae has been cleaned up recently and what's left may be a natural grouping afterall. Furthermore, at least one study has suggested that the mamenchisaurids may represent a sub-group of the cetiosaurids, in which case Mamenchisauridae would be known as Mamenchisaurinae ("-inae" being the correct sub-family suffix). Click here to search Dinochecker for cetiosaurids.
Etymology
Cetiosauridae is derived from the Greek "cetaceous" (Owen's derived form of "keteios" which means "whale-like"), "sauros" (lizard), and the Latin "-idae" (denoting a family).
Relationships
Further reading
• R. Owen (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".
• D.E. Fastovsky and D.B. Weishampel (2005) "Sauropodomorpha: The Big, The Bizarre & The Majestic" in "The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs".
