Coelophysis

Coelophysis is an extinct genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaurs that lived approximately 215 to 201.4 million years ago during the late Triassic period from the middle Norian to Rhaetian age in what is now the southwestern United States. Megapnosaurus was once considered to be a species within this genus, but this interpretation has been challenged and the genus Megapnosaurus is now considered valid.

Coelophysis

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
Sits inside
CoelophysinaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda
Length
2 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 205 million years on record.

The record covers at least 205.7 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 237 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Middle Triassic — about 0 of 30 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 24 of 30 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 2 of 30 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 30 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 0 of 30 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 30 occurrencesLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 30 occurrencesPaleocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesEocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesOligocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesMiocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesPliocene — about 0 of 30 occurrencesPleistocene — about 4 of 30 occurrences242–234 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences234–226 Mya — about 2 occurrences226–218 Mya — about 8 occurrences218–210 Mya — about 8 occurrences210–201 Mya — about 5 occurrences201–193 Mya — about 2 occurrences193–185 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.1–0 Mya — about 4 occurrences205.7 Mya129 ka242 Mya0 Mya

30 occurrences of Coelophysis 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

30 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

12 formations

Chinle — 36.33°N, 106.47°WChinle — 36.21°N, 106.34°WChinle — 36.34°N, 106.87°WChinle — 35.11°N, 109.83°WPetrified Forest — 36.31°N, 106.45°WSakishima — 34.37°N, 136.82°ETecovas — 33.61°N, 101.14°WTecovas — 33.58°N, 101.17°WPortland — 42.26°N, 72.57°WShuttle Meadow — 41.40°N, 72.77°WDockum — 33.50°N, 101.13°WCooper Canyon — 33.01°N, 101.35°WBull Canyon — 34.98°N, 104.15°WRock Point — 38.29°N, 108.91°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.88°WPalos Verdes — 33.63°N, 117.90°W

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The named rock units Coelophysis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.

Coelophysis and its relatives

Late Triassic

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

Found in the same rock

721 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 26 sites for Coelophysis, 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

18 references

Each of the 30 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. 6 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 content3

Picture of Coelophysis

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

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Coelophysis longicollis · amnh:farb:2701

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

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 itCoelophysinae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Cope 1889