Meaning
Cartilage and bone lizard
Length
Around 18m
Classification
Sauropoda,
Titanosauriformes
‘Chondrosteosaurus gigas‘ Owen, 1876
Locations
The specimen was found on the south coast of the Isle of Wight. This is very imprecise, but there is insufficient data, but Brighstone or Brook bays are the most likely candidates.
A long-necked sauropod dinosaur, Chondrosteosaurus was a browser, eating tough vegetation with its spoon-shaped teeth.
It was probably only a visitor when it died, as there was insufficient vegetation to support a large sauropod population.
Chondrosteosaurus is known from unspecified specimens, there is a vertebra that can be used for identification. It was originally placed in the camarasauridae because of an oblique dividing lamina within the pleurocoel and the broad flat ventral surface of the centrum. However, these features are present in diplodocids, brachiosaurs and several other sauropods, so are apparently non-diagnostic.
Material is rare, so please report it if you find some…
NAISH, D. and MARTILL, D. M. 2001d. Saurischian dinosaurs 1: sauropods. In MARTILL, D. M. and NAISH, D (eds). Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight. The Palaeontological Association. Field Guide to Fossils 10. 185-.241.