Coelophysis
Coelophysis bauri
Its well-preserved skeletons provide an exceptional view of early theropods and Triassic ecosystems.
Image: James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
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Characteristics
- Scientific name
- Coelophysis bauri
- Period
- Late Triassic (Rhaetian)
- Lived
- 214–201.4 Ma (214 million years ago)
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Habitat
- Plains, Forest
- Length (estimate)
- 3 m
- Mass (estimate)
- 20 kg
Description
Coelophysis was a slender, lightly built theropod with hollow bones, long hind legs and a narrow mouth lined with serrated teeth. It probably hunted small vertebrates and other animals, for which speed and agility would have been useful. The famous Ghost Ranch site contained many individuals, probably washed together or buried at the same time; this does not by itself prove group hunting. A supposed juvenile in an adult's abdomen later proved unconvincing evidence of cannibalism.
Habitat
River floodplains in what is now the south-western United States.
Fossil sites
Ghost Ranch, New Mexico
Chinle Formation
Cultural profile: United States →
Contemporaries in the database
Sources: Coelophysis