Coelophysis kayentakatae
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Coelophysis kayentakatae Temporal range: Early Jurassic, 196 Ma |
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| C. kayentakatae feeding on a Scutellosaurus | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Saurischia |
| Suborder: | Theropoda |
| Family: | †Coelophysidae |
| Subfamily: | †Coelophysinae |
| Genus: | †Coelophysis |
| Species: | †C. kayentakatae |
| Binomial name | |
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Coelophysis kayentakatae Rowe, 1989 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Syntarsus kayentakatae Megapnosaurus kayentakatae |
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Syntarsus kayentakatae
Rowe, 1989
Megapnosaurus kayentakatae
Ivie, Ślipiński & Węgrzynowicz, 2001
Coelophysis kayentakatae is an extinct species of coelophysid dinosaur that lived approximately 196 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now the southwestern United States. Originally included in the genus Syntarsus, a name which was later found to have already been in use for a species of insect. It has been reclassified as either Coelophysis or Megapnosaurus, along with the African species, Coelophysis rhodesiensis.
The name C. kayentakatae refers to the Kayenta Formation, where all known fossil specimens have been found.
C. kayentakatae had small two small, parallel crests and may show an evolutionary step toward later and larger neotheropods, such as the more advanced and larger Dilophosaurus. Both possess a "weak joint" between the premaxillary and the maxillary bones, creating a hooked premaxillary jaw.
Specimen UCMP V128659 was discovered in 1982 and referred to Syntarsus kayentakatae by Rowe in 1989, as a subadult gracile individual and later, Tykoski (2005) agreed. Gay (2010) described the specimen as the new tetanurine taxon Kayentavenator elysiae, but Mortimer (2010) pointed out that there was no published evidence that Kayentavenator is the same taxon as C. kayentakatae.
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