Saurischian dinosaurs

Various sauropods

A number of other sauropod species have been described with characteristics that make it difficult to group them with the diplodicids, camarasaurids or brachiosaurids. Among these are Cetiosaurus, ('whale lizard') which lived in the Middle to Late Jurassic period. It was one of the first dinosaurs to be discovered, and was named in 1841. Most early Cetiosaurus skeletons were unearthed in England, but a 6ft thigh bone was discovered in Morocco in 1979. This 45-60ft vegetarian dinosaur weighed about 10 tons and had a blunt head and a solid, spongy-textured backbone which was not hollowed out for lightness: later sauropods had hollow areas in their bones.

Saltasaurus or the 'Salta lizard' is named after Salta Province in Argentina where it was found. This dinosaur was a 39ft sauropod of the Late Cretaceous period, Saltasaurus was a long-necked, long-tailed dinosaur, and was the first known armored sauropod: it had armored plates attached to its skin.

Titanosaurus or 'titanic lizard' was a 40ft long sauropod of the Late Cretaceous period. It had a small head, long neck and whiplash tail and, like Saltasaurus, it may have had armored plates on its back. Titanosaurus was smaller and heavier than Diplodocus and it had more vertebrae. The remains of this dinosaur were found in India, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Argentina ­ the Argentinian skeleton was almost complete and was 60-66ft long.