Coelophysis? kayentakatae (specific name named after Dr. Kathleen "Kayenta Kay" Smith) is an unnamed extinct genus of neotheropod dinosaur that lived in Early Jurassic of U.S. The type specimen is Coelophysis? kayentakatae.
Discovery and Naming[]
In 1977, The holotype (MNA V2623) was discovered in Silty Faces member of Kayenta Formation in Arizona. It was originally named "Syntarsus" kayentakatae, but the name was preoccupied by the beetle. So Rowe moved it to Megapnosaurus kayentakatae, and to Coelophysis? kayentakatae. In 2010, Gay described the specimen as Kayentavenator, but Mortimer pointed out that there is no published evidence that Kayentavenator is the same taxon as C? Kayentakatae. The specific name of C? kayentakatae is named after Dr. Kathleen Smith. In 2022, it has been suggested that the genus would need a new name.
Description[]
It has two small crests, and it is a small dinosaur, reaching 2.5m (8ft) in length. It has some automorphies, such as the frontal bones on the skull are separated by a midline anterior extension of the parietal bones. Furthermore, they list a transverse groove on the anterior astragalar surface, as an additional autapomorphy. The specimen (UCMP V128659) was discovered in 1982 and referred to to as Coelophysis? kayentakatae by Rowe.
Classification[]
It is classified as a member of neotheropoda.
Paleoecology[]
It coexisted with Dilophosaurus, Anchisaurus, Scutellosaurus, and Sarahsaurus in the Kayenta Formation.
Taphonomy[]
The fossil has been rested on its left side and was partially buried. Some of the loosely connected bones on this side drifted out of place before the entire skull was finally buried. It likely has been exposed to water currents before it was fully decomposed. Later, the weight of overlying sediment distorted the specimen.
Gallery[]
References[]
https://prehistoric-wiki.fandom.com/wiki/Kayenta_coelophysoid