The sauropod dinosaur Cetiosaurus OWEN in the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of the Ardennes (NE France): insular, but not dwarf

A chevron bone from an Early Bathonian oolitic limestone in the Ardennes (NE France) is referred to the sauropod dinosaur Cetiosaurus Owen, previously known from the Middle Jurassic of England, on the basis of its rod-like distal end. This is the first well attested occurrence of Cetiosaurus in France. The presence of Cetiosaurus remains in the Bathonian of both Oxfordshire and the Ardennes is explainable by the fact that these regions were situated on the margin of the London-Brabant Massif land area, on which sauropod populations apparently lived. Contrary to the condition in other sauropods in insular environments, there is no evidence of dwarfism in Cetiosaurus from the London-Brabant Massif, probably because this emergent area was connected to the much larger Fenno-Scandian Shield.