Compsognathidae

Compsognathids
Temporal range: Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous, 151.5–108 Ma

Possible Late Cretaceous record

Compsognathid skeletons to scale
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Dinosauria
Order: Saurischia
Suborder: Theropoda
Clade: Tyrannoraptora
Family: Compsognathidae
Cope, 1871
Type species
Compsognathus longipes
Wagner, 1861
Genera[1]
Synonyms
  • Sinosauropterygidae Ji & Ji, 1996

Compsognathidae is a family of small carnivorous dinosaurs, generally conservative in form, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. Compsognathids lie at or near the origin of feathers—skin impressions are known from four genera, Compsognathus, Sinosauropteryx, Sinocalliopteryx, and Juravenator. While Juravenator, Sinosauropteryx, and Sinocalliopteryx show evidence of a covering of simple, primitive feathers, Juravenator and Compsognathus also show evidence of scales on the tail or hind legs.

The position of the Compsognathidae within the coelurosaur group is uncertain; some hold the family as the basalmost of the coelurosaurs,[4] while others as part of the Maniraptora.[5][6]

Systematics

In his 2003 paper discussing basal theropod relationships, Oliver Rauhut considered compsognathids to be part of Coeluridae.[7] However, subsequent cladistics analyses find Coelurus distantly related to members of Compsognathidae.[8][9]

Timeline

References

  1. Hendrickx, C., Hartman, S.A., & Mateus, O. (2015). An Overview of Non- Avian Theropod Discoveries and Classification. PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 12(1): 1-73.
  2. J. N. Choiniere, J. M. Clark, C. A. Forster and X. Xu. 2010. A basal coelurosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) of the Shishugou Formation in Wucaiwan, People's Republic of China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(6):1773-1796
  3. 1 2 Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2012) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Winter 2011 Appendix.
  4. Holtz TR, Molnar RE, Currie PJ (2004). "Basal Tetanurae". In Weishampel DB, Dodson P, Osmólska H. The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). University of California Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
  5. Gauthier JA. (1986) Saurischian monophyly and the origin of birds. pp. 1-55 In Padian, K. (ed.) The Origin of Birds and the Evolution of Flight. Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 8.
  6. Forster CA, Sampson SD, Chiappe LM & Krause DW (1998), The theropod ancestry of birds: new evidence from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Science 279: 1915-1919
  7. Rauhut, Oliver W.M. (2003). "The interrelationships and evolution of basal theropod dinosaurs". Special Papers in Palaeontology. 69: 1–213.
  8. Cristiano dal Sasso & Simone Maganuco, 2011, Scipionyx samniticus (Theropoda: Compsognathidae) from the Lower Cretaceous of Italy — Osteology, ontogenetic assessment, phylogeny, soft tissue anatomy, taphonomy and palaeobiology. Memorie della Società Italiana de Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano XXXVII(I): 1-281
  9. Senter, Phil (2007). "A new look at the phylogeny of Coelurosauria (Dinosauria, Theropoda)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 5 (4): 429–463. doi:10.1017/S1477201907002143.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.