Coelophysis bauri
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Coelophysis bauri Temporal range: Late Triassic, 203 Ma |
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| Mounted skeleton cast at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Coelophysidae |
| Genus: | †Coelophysis |
| Species: | †C. bauri |
| Binomial name | |
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Coelophysis bauri (Cope, 1887) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Coelurus bauri |
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Coelurus bauri
Cope, 1887a
Coelurus longicollis
Cope, 1887b
Tanystropheus willistoni
Cope, 1887b
Rioarribasaurus colberti
Hunt & Lucas, 1991
Coelophysis bauri is an extinct species of coelophysid dinosaur that lived approximately 203 million years ago during the latter part of the Triassic Period in what is now the southwestern United States. It is the type species of the genus Coelophysis, a group of small, slenderly-built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivores. It was originally classified in the genus Coelurus by Edward Drinker Cope in 1887.
Coelophysis bauri is known from a number of complete fossil skeletons. C. bauri was a lightly built dinosaur which measured up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length and which was more than a meter tall at the hips. Paul (1988) estimated the weight of the gracile form at 15 kg (33 lb), and the weight of the robust form at 20 kg (44 lb).C. bauri was a bipedal, carnivorous, theropod dinosaur that was a fast and agile runner.C. bauri had a furcula (wishbone), the earliest known example in a dinosaur.
Coelophysis bauri had narrow hips, forelimbs adapted for grasping, and narrow feet. Its neck and tail were long and slender. The pelvis and hindlimbs of C. bauri are also slight variations on the theropod body plan. It has the open acetabulum and straight ankle hinge that define the Dinosauria. The hindlimb ended in a three-toed foot (pes), with a raised hallux. The tail had an unusual structure within its interlocking prezygapophysis of its vertebrae, which formed a semi-rigid lattice, apparently to stop the tail from moving up and down.
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