Coelurus

Coelurus is a genus of coelurosaurian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic period. The name means "hollow tail", referring to its hollow tail vertebrae. Although its name is linked to one of the main divisions of theropods (Coelurosauria), it has historically been poorly understood, and sometimes confused with its better-known contemporary Ornitholestes. Like many dinosaurs studied in the early years of paleontology, it has had a confusing taxonomic history, with several species being named and later transferred to other genera or abandoned. Only one species is currently recognized as valid: the type species, C. fragilis, described by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1879. It is known from one partial skeleton found in the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, United States. It was a small bipedal carnivore with elongate legs.

Coelurus

Jaime A. Headden ( User:Qilong ) · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikidata/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
CoelurosauriaPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda
Length
1.8 mWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 32 million years on record.

The record covers at least 152.21 Mya to 119.57 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 157.9 Mya to 113.2 Mya.

Late Jurassic — about 12 of 14 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 2 of 14 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous159–157 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences157–156 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences156–154 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences154–153 Mya — about 1 occurrence153–151 Mya — about 1 occurrence151–149 Mya — about 1 occurrence149–148 Mya — about 2 occurrences148–146 Mya — about 2 occurrences146–145 Mya — about 2 occurrences145–143 Mya — about 1 occurrence143–142 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences120–119 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences119–117 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences117–115 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences115–114 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences114–112 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences152.21 Mya119.57 Mya158.8 Mya112.3 Mya

14 occurrences of Coelurus on record, most of them in the Late Jurassic. 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

14 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

2 formations

Morrison — 41.91°N, 105.96°WMorrison — 38.54°N, 105.22°WMorrison — 41.88°N, 106.11°WMorrison — 38.58°N, 108.40°WMorrison — 39.32°N, 110.69°WMorrison — 44.05°N, 107.46°WMorrison — 39.01°N, 111.02°WArundel Clay — 39.03°N, 76.87°WArundel Clay — 39.07°N, 76.87°W

Loading coastlines…

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

Coelurus and its relatives

Late Jurassic

Where Coelurus and its relatives were recorded in the Late Jurassic.

Found in the same rock

212 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 13 sites for Coelurus, 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

13 references

Each of the 14 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. 1 further reference is 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 content2

Picture of Coelurus

Credit
Jaime A. Headden ( User:Qilong )
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

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 itCoelurosauria through timeFormations of the Late JurassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Marsh 1879