accepted by other scientists. In 1859 Owen still classified Cetiosaurus in the Crocodylia. In 1861, Owen concentrated all such forms in a group of their own: the Opisthocoelia. In 1869 Thomas Huxley stated explicitly that Cetiosaurus was a dinosaur. In 1888 Lydekker assigned Cetiosaurus to its own family: the Cetiosauridae. For a long time this functioned as a large ill-defined family of typically "primitive" sauropods. Today however, many considerably more basal sauropods than Cetiosaurus are known. Modern exact cladistic research has not resulted in a single clear outcome about the position of Cetiosaurus oxoniensis in the sauropod tree. Sometimes a Cetiosauridae was recovered, a clade uniting Cetiosaurus oxoniensis with species as the Indian Barapasaurus, the South American Patagosaurus or the African Chebsaurus. Other studies indicate that the traditional Cetiosauridae were paraphyletic and recover Cetiosaurus oxoniensis in a basal position in the Eusauropoda, basal in the Neosauropoda or just outside of this clade. Paleobiology Cetiosaurus shared its time period with, and was possibly prey to Megalosaurus, possibly Streptospondylus and Cruxicheiros. The environment in which Cetiosaurus lived was floodplain and open woodland. Paul considered Cetiosaurus a feeding generalist, eating at both a low and a medium-high level, in view of its moderately long neck and limb proportions. References Bibliography Owen, R. 1842. Second rapport sur les reptiles fossiles de la Grande-Bretagne. L’Institut, Journal général des Sociétés et Travaux Scientifique de la France et de l’ Étranger, 10: 11–14 on Google Books. Owen, R. 1875. Monograph of the Mesozoic Reptilia, part 2: Monograph on the genus Cetiosaurus. Palaeontolographical Society Monograph, 29: 27–43. Cetiosauridae Bathonian life Middle Jurassic dinosaurs of Europe Jurassic England Fossils of England Middle Jurassic dinosaurs of Africa Jurassic Morocco Fossils of Morocco Fossil taxa described in 1841 Taxa named by Richard Owen