Dinosaur Depot: Coelophysis

The Coelophysis was a small carnivore, and one of the first known dinosaurs. The name is Greek which stands for "hollow form" because of the size of its limb bones. It lived during the late Triassic Period and early Jurassic Period.

Some of the features of the Coelophysis were that it had a slim body which included a long neck as well as tail. In fact, the tail was used to counter the weight of the upper body especially when it moved at fast speeds.

The dinosaur was a meat-eater as evidenced by the curved and jagged teeth that were sharp enough to tear apart small lizards. They had large eyes to go along with good eyesight which also helped them locate smaller prey.

They had four digits on the hand, although only three of them were of use. The hind limbs had three toes with a raised hallux. Another special feature it had was a wishbone, or furcula, which was the earliest known of its kind.

The remains of the Coelophysis had been found in New Mexico by David Baldwin in 1881, but it didn't get its name until 1889 from Edward Drinker Cope. In 1947, more fossils were found at the Ghost Ranch which wasn't far off where the original remains were located. Evidence has suggested that the Coelophysis in New Mexico may have died because of a severe flash flood. This also suggests that they likely traveled in packs to help hunt down larger prey because of the large number of them found at the location.

Because of a debate among paleontologists that those remains at the Ghost Ranch were of different characteristics than elsewhere, they were called Rioarribasaurus. As a result of a vote, the Ghost Ranch is now home to the actual Coelophysis specimen.

Most paleontologists agree that there were male and female versions of the Coelophysis.

The skull of the Coelophysis became the first dinosaur in space in 1998 by the Russian Space Station, Mir.

Previous Dinosaur Depot posts:
Eoraptor

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