CETIOSAURUS

Cetiosaurus, known mainly from several southern and southwestern English counties and the Isle of Wight, was named by Sir Richard Owen in 1841. He thought it was a marine crocodile of whale-like proportions—probably because it was discovered a full year before he even coined the term Dinosauria. But it became the first named sauropod when Thomas Huxley added its name to the roll call of "Fearfully Great Lizards" in 1869. Then it became the taxonomic dumping ground where angels fear to tread.

Not to be confused with Cetiosauriscus, the most unusual features of Cetiosaurus are the proportions of its limb bones and structure of its spinal column. Unlike most other sauropods, its forearm bones were as long as its upper arm bones, resulting in equal-length fore- and hindlimbs. Its neck and tail were relatively short compared to its kin, and sandwiched a back with vertebrae that were essentially solid bone—contrary to more advanced sauropods with their newfangled, weight-saving hollows. But a little extra timber is nothing compared to its current plight.

By 1842, no less than six species of Cetiosaurus were mentioned in print. None were installed as official name-bearer, and two of them didn't even have any material assigned to them. But according to Steel (1970), Owen "intended" Cetiosaurus medius to carry the genus, and that is now the target of palaeontologists' wrath. To bring some stability and distance the real Cetiosaurus from centuries of misassigned species and remains that could belong to anything from an iguanodont to a moose or a macaroon, Upchurch, Martin and Taylor banged on the ICZN's door in 2009, demanding that Cetiosaurus medius be booted from its perch and replaced with a more reliable yardstick.

Step forward Cetiosaurus oxoniensis—the Cetiosaurus saviour from Bletchingdon Station—known from superior fossilized booty discovered by a watchmaker known only as "Mr Chapman," and with shoulders broad enough to anchor this much loved (and much studied) dinosaur before the whole damn thing imploded under the weight of its own confusion. Truth be told, things could have been a lot worse. As recently as 2003, some experts were mooting Cetiosaurus brevis as the defining representative of Cetiosaurus, despite it being known as Pelorosaurus for the best part of 100 years! Researchers listed Cetiosaurus oxoniensis as the exemplar in anticipation of common sense prevailing. And the powers that be duly obliged, installing Cetiosaurus oxoniensis as the type species on April 23rd, 2014.

According to a 2004 study, Cetiosaurus and fellow four-legged, barrel-bodied plant munchers—Barapasaurus, Patagosaurus, Tehuelchesaurus, and the noodle-necked Mamenchisaurines—form a natural group of sauropods known collectively as Cetiosauridae (“whale lizards”). The name was first coined by Lydekker in 1888, though entry was a bit more relaxed back then, and most of its original members have long since fallen by the wayside.