Cetiosauridae is a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...
s which was first proposed by
Richard Lydekker
Richard Lydekker (; 25 July 1849 – 16 April 1915) was a British naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history. He was known for his contributions to zoology, paleontology, and biogeography. He worked extensively in cata ...
in 1888. While traditionally a
wastebasket taxon
Wastebasket taxon (also called a wastebin taxon, dustbin taxon or catch-all taxon) is a term used by some taxonomists to refer to a taxon that has the purpose of classifying organisms that do not fit anywhere else. They are typically defined by e ...
containing various unrelated species, some recent studies have found that it may represent a natural
clade
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
.
Alongside ''
Cetiosaurus
''Cetiosaurus'' ( meaning 'whale lizard', from the Greek '/ meaning 'sea monster' (later, 'whale') and '/ meaning 'lizard'), is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period, living about 171 to 165 million years ago ...
'' 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.
Cladogram of Sauropoda after Holwerda et al 2021, showing the position of Cetiosauridae:
References
Sauropoda
Dinosaur families
Jurassic dinosaurs
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