''Chebsaurus'' is a
genus of
quadrupedal,
herbivorous,
cetiosaurid
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 cl ...
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 bo ...
dinosaur, specifically a
eusauropod. It lived in present-day
Algeria, in the
Callovian
In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...
aged
Aïssa Formation Moulay Aïssa ben Idriss II (''Aïssa ben idrīs ben idrīs ben `abd allah ben al-ḥasan'') was born in Fez, Morocco in the 9th century. He was the son of Idriss II and the descendant of both Idriss I and his brother Suleyman the sultan of Tlemcen. ...
. The
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...
, ''C. algeriensis'', was named in 2005 by Mahammed et al. and is the most complete Algerian sauropod known. It was around long.
The word "Cheb" "شاب" is colloquial
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
for "young man", as the fossils found were believed to be from a juvenile. The original publication, by Mahammed et al., gives ''Chebsaurus'' the nickname "the Giant of
Ksour". A second skeleton, also from a juvenile of a similar ontogenetic stage, is also known.
Both skeletons, including cranial material, was found in the
Ksour Mountains, part of the
Occidental Saharan Atlas (Algerian High Atlas).
References
Further reading
Original paper in English and French
Cetiosauridae
Middle Jurassic dinosaurs of Africa
Fossils of Algeria
Fossil taxa described in 2005
{{Sauropodomorph-stub