Coelophysidae

Unikonta

Coelophysids Temporal range: Late Triassic-Early Jurassic, 220–183 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Artist's restoration of Coelophysis bauri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Superfamily:	†Coelophysoidea
Family:	†Coelophysidae Nopcsa, 1923
Genera
†Coelophysis (type) †Camposaurus †Megapnosaurus †Podokesaurus †Procompsognathus? †Pterospondylus? †Segisaurus
Synonyms
Podokesauridae Huene, 1914 Procompsognathidae Nopcsa, 1923 Segisauridae Camp, 1936

The Coelophysidae are a family of primitive carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. Most species were relatively small in size. The family flourished in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods.

Under cladistic analysis, Coelophysidae was first defined by Paul Sereno in 1998 as the most recent common ancestor of Coelophysis bauri and Procompsognathus triassicus, and all of that common ancestor's descendants.

Coelophysidae is part of the clade Coelophysoidea. The older term "Podokesauridae", named 14 years prior to Coelophysidae (which would normally grant it priority), is now usually ignored, since its type specimen was destroyed in a fire and can no longer be compared to new finds.^[1]

Classification

• Family Coelophysidae
  •  ?Pterospondylus
  • Subfamily Coelophysinae
    • Camposaurus
    • Coelophysis
    • Megapnosaurus (formerly Syntarsus)
  •  ?Subfamily Podokesaurinae
    • Podokesaurus
  • Subfamily Procompsognathinae
    • Procompsognathus
  • Subfamily Segisaurinae
    • Segisaurus

Phylogeny

The cladogram below was recovered in a study by Matthew T. Carrano, John R. Hutchinson and Scott D. Sampson, 2005.^[2]

	Procompsognathus Segisaurus Coelophysis Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis Megapnosaurus kayentakatae

The cladogram below follows the topology from a 2011 analysis by paleontologists Martin D. Ezcurra and Stephen L. Brusatte.^[3]

	"Megapnosaurus" kayentakatae Coelophysis Coelophysis rhodesiensis Camposaurus

References

1. ^ Sereno, P. (1999). "Taxon Search: Coelophysidae". Accessed 2009-09-02.
2. ^ Carrano, M.T, Hutchinson, J.R, Sampson, S.D. (2005). "New information on Segisaurus halli, a small theropod dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Arizona." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 25(4):835-849.
3. ^ Ezcurra, M.D.; and Brusatte, S.L. (2011). "Taxonomic and phylogenetic reassessment of the early neotheropod dinosaur Camposaurus arizonensis from the Late Triassic of North America". Palaeontology 54 (4): 763–772. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01069.x. 

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