Coelophysis "hollow form" |
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[ Measurements | Time | Place | Remains | Essay | Images ] |
Coelophysis Cope &
Colbert, 1964 [nomen conservandum]
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Animalia Vertebrata Tetrapoda Sauropsida Archosauromorpha Ornithodira Dinosauria Theropoda Coelophysoidea |
see also: Genus Index, Classification
LENGTH: 2.5 m to 3 m | MASS: 15 kg to 30 kg |
see also: World Records
see also: Ages of the Mesozoic
see also: Paleo-Maps
see also: Anatomy
Coelophysis, a very common little hunter of the Late Triassic, came in two forms, "robust" and "gracile". These two forms, or "morphs", probably represent the two genders. There was a recent disagreement over the proper name for Coelophysis. The type specimen (that is, the specimen used to define the genus) was rather fragmentary. Most of our knowledge of Coelophysis comes instead from dozens of very well-preserved specimens found at a site called Ghost Ranch. Some scientists recently argued that the Ghost Ranch dinosaurs might not necessarily be the same as the original Coelophysis specimen. They proposed a new name for the Ghost Ranch dinosaurs - Rioarribasaurus. But by this time the association of the name Coelophysis with the Ghost Ranch material had become heavily entrenched in dinosaur terminology. The ICZN (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature) voted to redefine the type specimen of Coelophysis as one of the Ghost Ranch specimens. So the name Rioarribasaurus has been officially dropped. The original type material, which may or may not belong to the same kind of animal as the neotype, has been given its own (dubious) genus: Eucoelophysis ("true Coelophysis"). A Coelophysis skull from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History became the first dinosaur fossil to be taken into space on January 22, 1998 when the Endeavor Space Shuttle took off for Mir Space Station. |
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SHIRAISHI
MINEO
Digital (Two-Dimensional) |
early predator Coelophysis bauri | ||
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BRENDAN
SMITH
Photography |
the skull of the early hunter Coelophysis bauri | ||
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LUC
J. "ASPIDEL" BAILLY
Pencil |
A Coelophysis bauri hunts in the Triassic forest (with Dicroidium flora). | ||
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MORELL
CRAVENS III
Pencil |
the head of small predator Coelophysis bauri | ||
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JULIUS
CSOTONYI
Ink |
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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