Chondrosteosaurus
Name:
Chondrosteosaurus
(cartilage and bone lizard).
Phonetic: Kon-dro-ste-oh-sore-us.
Named By: Richard Owen - 1876.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropoda.
Species: C. gigas (type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Unknown.
Known locations: England - Wessex Formation.
Time period: Barremian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Cervical (neck) vertebra.
When
Ornithopsis was named by Harry Govier Seeley in
1870, Seeley noted
the pneumaticised vertebrae and considered Ornithopsis
to represent a
link between pterosaurs
and birds. Richard Owen however said that he
was wrong, the vertebra actually represented a kind of large marine
reptile, though one that probably had a well-developed respiratory
system. As a result Owen took away the vertebrae and created a new
genus called Chondrosteosaurus, upon the basis
that Owen believed
that the passages on the vertebrae would have been filled with
cartilage.
Both
Seeley and Owen however were very wrong in their interpretations as the
vertebrae were actually those of a sauropod
dinosaur. Also a second
species of Chondrosteosaurus, C.
magnus that was also named by
Owen is no longer considered to be valid.
Further reading
- On Ornithopsis, a gigantic animal of the
pterodactyle kind from
the Wealden. - Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series
4, 5: 279-283. - Harry Govier Seeley - 1870.
- Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck
Formations. Supplement 7. Crocodilia (Poikilopleuron) and
Dinosauria? (Chondrosteosaurus). -
Palaeontographical Society
Monographs, 30: 1-7. - Richard Owen - 1876.
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