Coelophysoidea

Coelophysoidea is an extinct clade of theropod dinosaurs common during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods. They were widespread geographically, probably living on all continents. Coelophysoids were all slender, carnivorous forms with a superficial similarity to the coelurosaurs, with which they were formerly classified, and some species had delicate cranial crests. Sizes range from about 1 to 6 m in length. It is unknown what kind of external covering coelophysoids had, and various artists have portrayed them as either scaly or feathered. Some species may have lived in packs, as inferred from sites where numerous individuals have been found together.

Coelophysoidea

James St. John · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
coelophysoidPBDB
Sits inside
NeotheropodaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Theropoda
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 62 million years on record.

The record covers at least 227.3 Mya to 165.3 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 154.8 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 80 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 45 of 80 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 33 of 80 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 1 of 80 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 1 of 80 occurrencesLate Jurassic239–236 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences236–233 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences233–230 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences230–227 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences227–224 Mya — about 5 occurrences224–222 Mya — about 5 occurrences222–219 Mya — about 5 occurrences219–216 Mya — about 5 occurrences216–213 Mya — about 6 occurrences213–210 Mya — about 6 occurrences210–207 Mya — about 5 occurrences207–204 Mya — about 4 occurrences204–202 Mya — about 3 occurrences202–199 Mya — about 11 occurrences199–196 Mya — about 8 occurrences196–193 Mya — about 8 occurrences193–190 Mya — about 2 occurrences190–187 Mya — about 2 occurrences187–185 Mya — about 2 occurrences185–182 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences182–179 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences179–176 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences176–173 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences170–167 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences167–165 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences165–162 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences162–159 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences159–156 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences156–153 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences227.3 Mya165.3 Mya239 Mya153 Mya

80 occurrences of Coelophysoidea on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

80 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

27 formations

Chinle — 34.44°N, 109.46°WChinle — 36.33°N, 106.47°WChinle — 35.03°N, 109.83°WChinle — 36.21°N, 106.34°WChinle — 36.34°N, 106.87°WChinle — 35.11°N, 109.83°WChinle — 35.82°N, 111.25°WChinle — 36.40°N, 106.50°WChinle — 34.68°N, 109.58°WChinle — 34.93°N, 109.70°WPetrified Forest — 36.31°N, 106.45°WKayenta — 35.69°N, 111.01°WKayenta — 37.00°N, 110.70°WKayenta — 35.74°N, 111.07°WElliot — 28.35°S, 25.68°EElliot — 28.98°S, 27.37°EElliot — 29.20°S, 27.43°EElliot — 29.13°S, 27.33°EElliot — 28.47°S, 27.82°EElliot — 29.07°S, 27.50°EForest Sandstone — 16.22°S, 30.10°EForest Sandstone — 19.97°S, 28.41°EForest Sandstone — 16.12°S, 29.50°ELufeng — 25.17°N, 102.11°ENavajo Sandstone — 36.78°N, 110.53°WNavajo Sandstone — 36.64°N, 111.45°WBlue Lias — 52.22°N, 1.75°WBlue Lias — 51.41°N, 3.17°WToutunhe — 43.55°N, 87.26°EBull Canyon — 35.37°N, 103.38°WBull Canyon — 34.98°N, 104.15°WMoenave — 35.93°N, 111.30°WMoenave — 37.10°N, 113.54°WLöwenstein — 49.06°N, 8.98°ELöwenstein — 48.74°N, 9.13°ETecovas — 33.61°N, 101.14°WTecovas — 33.58°N, 101.17°WBroadford Beds — 57.19°N, 5.90°WPortland — 42.26°N, 72.57°WNyamandhlovu Sandstones — 19.80°S, 28.58°EShuttle Meadow — 41.40°N, 72.77°WMoon-Airel — 49.22°N, 1.08°EDockum — 33.50°N, 101.13°WCooper Canyon — 33.01°N, 101.35°WZbaszynek Beds/Wielichowo Beds — 50.68°N, 18.65°ELa Boca — 26.60°N, 99.52°WRock Point — 38.29°N, 108.91°WQuebrada del Barro — 31.63°S, 67.27°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Coelophysoidea has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 4 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Coelophysoidea and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Coelophysoidea and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

275 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 74 sites for Coelophysoidea, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

60 references

Each of the 80 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 48 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Coelophysoidea

Credit
James St. John
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Coelophysoidea was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNeotheropoda through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Holtz 1994