Coelophysis
extinct genus of theropod dinosaurs (Theropoda)
Coelophysis is an extinct genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaurs that lived approximately 215 to 201.4 million years ago during the late Triassic period from the middle Norian to Rhaetian age in what is now the southwestern United States. Megapnosaurus was once considered to be a species within this genus, but this interpretation has been challenged and the genus Megapnosaurus is now considered valid.
Coelophysis was a small, slenderly built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore that could grow up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long. It is one of the earliest known dinosaur genera. Scattered material representing similar animals has been found worldwide in some Late Triassic and Early Jurassic formations.
The type species C. bauri, originally placed in the genus Coelurus by Edward Drinker Cope in 1887, was described by the latter in 1889. The names Longosaurus and Rioarribasaurus are synonymous with Coelophysis. Coelophysis is one of the most specimen-rich dinosaur genera.
History of discovery
In April of 1887 American paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope first described vertebrate remains from the Triassic of New Mexico as new species of the genus Coelurus, including nearly all parts of the skeleton except the skull and teeth. While Coelurus had been considered by its describer Othniel Charles Marsh as an uncertain type of reptile, the new material described by Cope demonstrated that it was a dinosaur, and likely closely related to Megadactylus (now Anchisaurus) from the Triassic of Massachusetts.
“Coelophysis” enters the record as extinct genus of theropod dinosaurs (Theropoda). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Coelophysis, extinct and genus can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Coelophysis” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Coelophysis, extinct and genus provides the most credible route into that argument.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q309392. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1887 and 1889.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Coelophysis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.