Studing The Coelophysis

Coelophysis, meaning “hollow form” in reference to its hollow bones  is one of the earliest known genera of dinosaur. It was a small, carnivorous biped from North America. It first appeared in the Late Triassic Period, around 215 million years ago.

Coelophysis had a long narrow head, and its sharp, curved, jagged teeth show that it ate meat. Coelophysis had an elongated snout with large fenestrae which helped to reduce skull weight, while narrow struts of bones preserved the structural integrity of the skull. The neck had a pronounced sigmoid curve.

Matt Celeskey writes in his blog how he and Larry Rinehart developed skeletal reconstructions of Coelophysis at different growth stages, based on his statistical and allometric studies of the fossils.

One interesting facet that came out of this study was the “demographics” of the Ghost Ranch population—over 40% of the preserved specimens came from small juveniles less than 2kg in weight (like those shown above). Large adults (like AMNH 7223 and 7224, the specimens that most depictions of Coelophysis are probably based on) make up less than 10% of the known specimens of C. bauri.