Compsognathus
"delicate jaw"
[ Measurements | Time | Place | Remains | Essay | Images ]

CLASSIFICATION

Compsognathus Wagner, 1859
    TYPE SPECIES:
  • C. longipes Wagner, 1859 "long-footed delicate jaw"

    MISASSIGNED SPECIES:
  • C. corallestris Demay & Thomel, 1972 == C. longipes
  • C. primus (Ji Q. & Ji S., 1996) (originally Sinosauropteryx) = Sinosauropteryx prima
Animalia
Vertebrata
Tetrapoda
Sauropsida
Archosauromorpha
Ornithodira
Dinosauria
Theropoda
Tetanurae
Coelurosauria

see also: Genus Index, Classification


MEASUREMENTS

LENGTH: 1 m MASS: 2.5 kg

see also: World Records


TIME

Tithonian

see also: Ages of the Mesozoic


PLACE

France, Germany

see also: Paleo-Maps


REMAINS

see also: Anatomy


ESSAY

One of the very smallest non-avian dinosaurs.

There has been disagreement over the poorly preserved hand. One early restoration with a finned forelimb has been rejected. Usually it is depicted with two fingers, although it may well have had the usual theropod three, as its closest relative Sinosauropteryx did. Recently, a bone previously identified as left metacarpal I was re-diagnosed as the first phalanx of the first digit, bolstering this idea.

The type specimen of Compsognathus corallestris probably represents the adult form, while the type specimen of C. longipes is probably a juvenile. The adult was found with 10 eggs and a skeleton inside. At first it was thought that the skeleton was of a fetal Compsognathus, and that the animal gave live birth (ovoviviparity), but it turned out to be a lizard (Bavarisaurus). This is direct evidence of Compsognathus' predatory nature.


IMAGES

Click on thumbnail to see full image.

JOSEP FERNÁNDEZ FELGUERES

Digital (Two-Dimensional)

[THUMBNAIL] the tiny coelurosaur Compsognathus longipes

SHIRAISHI MINEO

Digital (Two-Dimensional)

[THUMBNAIL] fleet-footed Compsognathus longipes (This animal almost certainly had feathery integument.)

JULIUS CSOTONYI

Ink

[THUMBNAIL] sundry theropods
I.    Alvarezsaurus calvoi
II.   Coelophysis bauri
III.  Baryonyx walkeri
IV.   Oviraptor philoceratops
V.    Aublysodon mirandis
VI.   Anserimimus planinychus
VII.  Avimimus portentosus
VIII. Compsognathus longipes
IX.   Carnotaurus sastrei
X.    Ceratosaurus nasicornis
(These are not to the same scale. Alvarezsaurus may have been a bird, and therefore feathered.)

see also: Art Gallery


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