ZoomDinosaurs.com Dinosaur and Paleontology Dictionary

CEARADACTYLUS Cearadactylus was a pterosaur with a 13 feet (4 m) wide wingspan with protruding, interlocking teeth. It was not a dinosaur, but type of extinct, flying reptile from Brazil during the early Cretaceous period.

CEDAROSAURUS (pronounced SEED-er-oh-SAWR-us) Cedarosaurus (meaning "Cedar Mountain Formation lizard") was a sauropod dinosaur that lived during the early late Cretaceous period. It had a long neck, a long tail, and a small head. Fossils were found in Utah, USA. It was named by paleontologist Tidwell, Carpenter and Brooks in 1999. The type species is Cedarosaurus weiskopfae.

CENOZOIC ERA The "Age of Mammals" (65 million years ago - today), saw the emergence of familiar life forms, humans, the modern look of the continents, and a cooling climate. The Cenozoic (meaning "recent life") followed the Mesozoic Era.

CENTROSAURINES (pronounced SEN-tro-sawr-INES) Centrosaurines (meaning "pointed lizards") were a group of rhinoceros-like ceratopsian dinosaurs - most had large horns (or bony growths ) on the short snout and a relatively short neck frill. Some centrosaurines included Centrosaurus, Styracosaurus, Brachyceratops, Monoclonius, Einiosaurus, Achelousaurus, and Pachyrhinosaurus.

CENTROSAURUS (pronounced SEN-tro-SAWR-us) Centrosaurus (meaning "pointed lizard") was a ceratopsian dinosaur, about 20 feet (6 m) long that lived during the late Cretaceous period. This plant-eater had a large, forward-pointing snout horn 18 inches (46 cm) long. The skull was over 3 ft (1 m) long. Its scalloped frill had two hooked spikes near the center. Many skulls and skeletons (and a fossilized skin impression) of this ornithischian dinosaur have been found in bonebeds in Alberta, Canada. Centrosaurus was named by Canadian paleontologist L. Lambe in 1904. The type species is C. apertus.

CEPHALASPIS Cephalaspis (meaning "head shield") was a genus of primitive, jawless, armored, fresh-water fish that lived during the Silurian-Devonian periods (over 340 million years ago). Cephalaspis is the oldest known animal vertebrate (an animal having a backbone). This extinct group of fish were less than an foot long and had a large, flattened head shield that ended in two points (it looked a bit like it had a boomerang in its head). Classification: Chordata, Vertebrata, Agnatha (Cyclostomata=jawless fish), Osteostraci (Cephalaspidiformes), family Cephalaspida, genus Cephalaspis, many species, includng Cephalaspis tenuicornis (found in Norway).

CEPHALOPOD Cephalopods (meaning "head foot") are mollusks with tentacles and a large head. These soft-bodied invertebrates include animals like squid, octopuses, cuttlefish, and the ammonites (extinct). They are fast-moving carnivores that catch prey with their tentacles and poison it with a bite from beak-like jaws. They move with by squirting water through a siphon, a type of jet propulsion. Many also squirt ink to help escape predators.

CERAPODS The cerapods (or cerapoda) were a group of ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs that included the ornithopods and the marginocephalians.

CERATOPS (pronounced SER-uh-TOPS) Ceratops (meaning "horned face") was a ceratopsian dinosaur, a plant-eater about 23 to 26 feet (7-8 m) long that lived during the late late Cretaceous period, roughly 80 to 73 million years ago. It is known from two horn cores and a single bone from around the eye, that were found in Montana, USA. Ceratops was named by paleontologist Othniel Marsh in 1888. The type species of this dubious genus is C. montanus. When Ceratops was found, it was thought to be a stegosaurid dinosaur (no other ceratopsians had been found yet). It may belong to the genus Chasmosaurus.

CERATOPSIANS (pronounced SER-uh-TOP-see-in) Ceratopsians were group (sub-order) of plant-eating, quadrupedal ornithischian dinosaurs with beaks, and bony head frills along the back of the skull. They lived during the Cretaceous period. Ceratopsians are divided into the family Protoceratopsidae (which includes: Montanoceratops, Bagaceratops, Protoceratops Leptoceratops, Microceratops, and Notoceratops) and the family Ceratopsidae (which includes: Pentaceratops, Styracosaurus, Anchiceratops, Triceratops, Monoclonius, Ceratops and others).

CERATOSAURIA (pronounced se-RAT-uh-SAWR-ee-ah) Ceratosauria is a major division of theropod dinosaurs; those whose three hip bones (the pubis, ilium and ischium) are fused. Ceratosauria is divided into the Coelophysoidea (early Ceratosaurs with a notch in the upper jaw, including Dilophosaurus, Coelophysis, Syntarsus, Liliensternus) and the Neoceratosauria (Ceratosaurus, Elaphrosaurus, and the abelisaurids).

CERATOSAURUS (pronounced ser-RAT-uh-SAWR-us) Ceratosaurus (meaning "horned lizard") was a dinosaur that was about 20 feet (6 m) long, weighing roughly 524 kg. This meat-eater had a small horn on its snout, 2 smaller brow horns, a long, thin tail, 4-fingered hands (which is a primitive feature for a theropod), and large eyes (and probably had very good eyesight). The femur (thigh bone) was 2.45 ft (62 cm) long. It was a common predator that lived during the late Jurassic period, about 156 to 145 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in Colorado & Utah, USA and Tanzania, Africa. It was named by O. C. Marsh in 1884, who theorized that Ceratosaurus was a good swimmer, like the crocodilians (since it had a long, thin tail). The type species is C. nasicornis.

CERESIOSAURUS (pronounced ser-REE-see-oh-SAWR-us) Ceresiosaurus was a nothosaur, a reptile with flipper-like limbs that lived both on land and in the water. It was about 13 feet (4 m) long. It had longer toes than the other Nothosaurus, and more bones in each of the toes (hyperphalangy). This made the limbs very flipper-like, and Ceresiosaurus must have been a very good swimmer . It lived during the mid-Triassic period. Fossils have been found in Europe. It was not a dinosaur.

CERVICAL Cervical means of, near, or from the neck.

CERVICAL VERTEBRAE Cervical vertebrae are the vertebrae in the neck - the neck bones.

CETIOSAURISCUS (pronounced SEE-tee-oh-saw-RIS-kus) Cetiosauriscus (meaning whale-like lizard) was a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur. It was a large, four-legged, long-necked, small-headed, whip-tailed plant-eater. Cetiosauriscus dates from the mid-Jurassic period, about 181-169 million years ago. It was about 50 feet (15 m) long and weighed roughly 17000 kg. Fossils have been found in England and Switzerland. Cetiosauriscus was named by the paleontologist von Huene in 1927. The type species is C. stewarti.

CETIOSAURUS (pronounced see-TIE-o-SAWR-us) Cetiosaurus (meaning "whale lizard") was a primitive sauropod dinosaur. It was a four-legged, long-necked, small-headed plant-eater with a relatively short tail. Cetiosaurus' back vertebrae had a coarse texture (like that of whales, hence its name, meaning "whale lizard"). It dates from the mid-Jurassic period, about 181-169 million years ago. It was over 50-53 feet (15-16 m) long and weighed roughly 24800 kg. It belongs to the family Cetiosauridae and is a saurischian dinosaur. Its fossils have been found in England and Morocco in deposits that were watery during the mid-Jurassic. This indicates that although terrestrial, Cetiosaurus probably lived near the water. Cetiosaurus was the first 4-legged sauropod found. It was named by the English anatomist Sir Richard Owen in 1841. The type species is C. medius.

cf. Cf. is an abbreviation for "compare" or "compare with.".

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