Coelurus was a small dinosaur that lived in the late Jurassic period. Its name means hollow tail. Few bones have been discovered, although Coelurus is thought to have been 2 metres long.
Classification[]
Since the growth of phylogenetic studies in the 1980s, Coelurus has usually been found to be a coelurosaurian of uncertain affinities, not fitting with the better-known clades of the Cretaceous. Along with several other generalized coelurosaurians such as the compsognathids, Ornitholestes, and Proceratosaurus, it has had multiple placements around the base of Coelurosauria. The phylogenetic analysis conducted by Rauhut (2003) and Smith et al. (2007) found that Coelurus was more closely related to compsognathids than to other coelurosaurs. Oliver Rauhut (2003) proposed that Coeluridae was composed of Coelurus plus the compsognathids,[8] but he and others have not since found the compsognathids to group with Coelurus. However, a work published by Phil Senter in 2007 following the description of Tanycolagreus found it and Coelurus to be closely related at the base of Tyrannosauroidea. Senter proposed that Coelurus and Tanycolagreus were the only coelurids and were actually tyrannosauroids, but the phylogenetic analysis of Turner et al. (2007b) found that Coelurus was a basal coelurosaur, although more derived than the tyrannosaurids. Zanno in 2010 recovered Coelurus as a basal maniraptoran.[14] Coelurus is sometimes put into its own family, Coeluridae, although the membership of the family has not been stable.
Description[]
Coelurus is known from most of the skeleton of a single individual, including numerous vertebrae, partial pelvic and shoulder girdles, and much of the arms and legs, stored at the Peabody Museum of Natural History; however, the relative completeness of the skeleton was not known until 1980. The fossils were recovered from Reed's Quarry 13 at Como Bluff, Wyoming. Additionally, two arm bones possibly belonging to this genus are known from the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah. It was not a large dinosaur. Its weight has been estimated at around 13 to 20 kilograms (29 to 44 lbs), with a length of about 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) and a hip height of 0.7 meters (2.3 feet). From reconstructions of the skeleton, Coelurus had a relatively long neck and torso due to its long vertebrae, a long slender hindlimb due to its long metatarsus, and potentially a small slender skull.
Gallery[]
Coelurus/Gallery