Coelurus

<h2 id="history">History</h2>

Coelurus was described in 1879 by Othniel Charles Marsh,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a> an American paleontologist and naturalist known for his "<a href="/facts/Bone_Wars/mYIh9CLc">Bone Wars</a>" with <a href="/facts/Edward_Drinker_Cope/Wup4Ic7k">Edward Drinker Cope</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a> At the time, he only described what he interpreted as vertebrae from the back and tail, found at the same location as the <a href="/facts/Biological_type/mTM1beKX">type specimen</a> of his new genus and species Camptonotus dispar (later renamed <a href="/facts/Camptosaurus/RaFLnv8S">Camptosaurus</a> because Camptonotus was already in use for a <a href="/facts/Cricket_(insect)/XeY1Nkuq">cricket</a>). Marsh was impressed with the hollow interiors of the thin-walled vertebrae, a characteristic that gave the <a href="/facts/Type_species/kL03T6V4">type species</a> its name: Coelurus fragilis. He thought of his new genus as an "animal about as large as a <a href="/facts/Wolf/ed7IVbIf">wolf</a>, and probably carnivorous".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a> Coelurus would prove to be the first named small theropod from the Morrison Formation,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> although at the time Marsh was not certain that it was a dinosaur. He returned to it in 1881 and provided illustrations of some bones, along with putting it in a new <a href="/facts/Order_(biology)/GKLJvIpt">order</a> (Coeluria) and family (<a href="/facts/Coeluridae/SMVP7lmF">Coeluridae</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>
From there, the story becomes more complex. Apparently, the skeleton was scattered throughout the quarry,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> with the remains being recovered from September 1879 to September 1880.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> Marsh elected to place some of the material in a new species, C. agilis, on the strength of a pair of fused pubic bones he thought belonged to an animal three times the size of C. fragilis.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> He returned to the genus in 1888 to add C". gracilis, based on unknown remains only represented today by a single <a href="/facts/Ungual/Gjul1q5v">claw bone</a> pertaining to a small theropod from the <a href="/facts/Early_Cretaceous/5uWEJGYC">Early Cretaceous</a> <a href="/facts/Arundel_Formation/LmPFHSbV">Arundel Formation</a> of <a href="/facts/Maryland/tVy9fC1n">Maryland</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> This species is not currently accepted as representing Coelurus in reviews of the genus, but has not been given its own genus.
Despite their professional animosity, Cope also assigned species to Coelurus; in 1887, he named fossils from the <a href="/facts/Late_Triassic/TazKYWQN">Late Triassic</a> of <a href="/facts/New_Mexico/wosJCGaW">New Mexico</a> as C. bauri and C. longicollis.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a> He later gave them their own genus, <a href="/facts/Coelophysis/jKgnr3Gu">Coelophysis</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a>
In 1903, <a href="/facts/Henry_Fairfield_Osborn/jnULPElT">Henry Fairfield Osborn</a> named a second genus of small theropod from the Morrison Formation, <a href="/facts/Ornitholestes/bdtF7GTl">Ornitholestes</a>. This genus was based on a partial skeleton from Bone Cabin Quarry, north of Como Bluff.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> Ornitholestes became intertwined with Coelurus in 1920, when <a href="/facts/Charles_W._Gilmore/Qt8GVChj">Charles Gilmore</a>, in his influential study of theropod dinosaurs, concluded that the two were <a href="/facts/Synonym_(taxonomy)/BHLdox7E">synonyms</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a> This was followed in the literature for decades.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a> The two genera were not formally compared, however, nor was there a full accounting of what actually belonged to Coelurus, until <a href="/facts/John_Ostrom/sQ7EUSmo">John Ostrom</a>'s study in 1980.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a>
Gilmore had suspected that C. fragilis and C. agilis were the same, but Ostrom was able to demonstrate this synonymy. This greatly expanded the known material pertaining to C. fragilis, and Ostrom was able to demonstrate that Ornitholestes was quite different from Coelurus.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a> At the time, <a href="/facts/Dale_Russell/KzqYIRrE">Dale Russell</a> had proposed that C. agilis was a species of <a href="/facts/Elaphrosaurus/huCdheXo">Elaphrosaurus</a> based on the incomplete information then published;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a> Ostrom was also able to demonstrate that this was not the case. Additionally, he showed that one of the three vertebrae Marsh had illustrated for C. fragilis was actually a composite of two vertebrae,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a> one of which was later shown to come from another quarry and belonged not to Coelurus but to another, unnamed small theropod.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a> This unnamed genus would not be the last small theropod from the Morrison Formation to be confused with Coelurus; a later discovery (1995) of a partial skeleton in Wyoming was first thought to be a new larger specimen of Coelurus,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23">23</a> but further study showed it belonged to a different but related genus, <a href="/facts/Tanycolagreus/dCHvh9VT">Tanycolagreus</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24">24</a>

<h3>Species</h3>
Only one species of Coelurus, the <a href="/facts/Type_species/kL03T6V4">type species</a> C. fragilis, is still recognized as valid today,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25">25</a> although six other species have been named over the years. C. agilis, as discussed, was named by Marsh in 1884 for what turned out to be additional parts of the skeleton of C. fragilis.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26">26</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27">27</a> Cope's C. bauri and C. longicollis, named in 1887 from Late Triassic fossils from New Mexico,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28">28</a> were transferred by Cope in 1889 to his new genus <a href="/facts/Coelophysis/jKgnr3Gu">Coelophysis</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29">29</a> C. daviesi was named by <a href="/facts/Richard_Lydekker/s1DGWa1Y">Richard Lydekker</a> in 1888 for <a href="/facts/Harry_Seeley/XcCTLylK">Harry Seeley</a>'s <a href="/facts/Thecospondylus/g6nkF0yN">Thecospondylus</a> daviesi, a neck vertebra from the <a href="/facts/Early_Cretaceous/5uWEJGYC">Early Cretaceous</a> of <a href="/facts/England/U9mE5bGL">England</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30">30</a> but this species was later transferred to its own genus, <a href="/facts/Thecocoelurus/kUHtkubW">Thecocoelurus</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31">31</a> C. gracilis, another Early Cretaceous species, was also named in 1888. It was coined by Marsh for what seems to be an assortment of limb remains,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:32" href="#fn:32">32</a> but Gilmore could only find a single claw when he reviewed the species in 1920.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:33" href="#fn:33">33</a> This species has been proposed as outside Coelurus since the 1920s (when Gilmore assigned it to <a href="/facts/Chirostenotes/Q5tsabfD">Chirostenotes</a>),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:34" href="#fn:34">34</a> and has been regarded as a <a href="/facts/Nomen_dubium/pxPDpId7">dubious</a> species outside of Coelurus in recent reviews.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:35" href="#fn:35">35</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:36" href="#fn:36">36</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:37" href="#fn:37">37</a> Finally, during the period when Ornitholestes was thought to be the same as Coelurus, its type species was recognized as distinct by Steel, as C. hermanni.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:38" href="#fn:38">38</a>

<h2 id="description">Description</h2>

Coelurus is known from most of the skeleton of a single individual, including numerous vertebrae, partial <a href="/facts/Pelvis/8Fq9z3TY">pelvic</a> and <a href="/facts/Pectoral_girdle/XyWsm4hv">shoulder girdles</a>, and much of the arms and legs, stored at the <a href="/facts/Peabody_Museum_of_Natural_History/a1wwYsra">Peabody Museum of Natural History</a>; however, the relative completeness of the skeleton was not known until 1980. The fossils were recovered from Reed's Quarry 13 at <a href="/facts/Como_Bluff/EHl6YPFx">Como Bluff</a>, Wyoming.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:39" href="#fn:39">39</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:40" href="#fn:40">40</a> Additionally, two arm bones possibly belonging to this genus are known from the <a href="/facts/Cleveland-Lloyd_Dinosaur_Quarry/zkfpcI2U">Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry</a> in <a href="/facts/Utah/te7zUyBX">Utah</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:41" href="#fn:41">41</a> Its weight has been estimated at around 13 to 20 kilograms (29 to 44 lb),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:42" href="#fn:42">42</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:43" href="#fn:43">43</a> with a length of about 2.4 meters (7.9 ft) and a hip height of 0.7 meters (2.3 ft).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:44" href="#fn:44">44</a> From reconstructions of the skeleton, Coelurus had a relatively long neck and torso due to its long <a href="/facts/Vertebra/qAdLhD5H">vertebrae</a>, a long slender hindlimb due to its long <a href="/facts/Metatarsus/5sPXvop2">metatarsus</a>, and potentially a small slender skull.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:45" href="#fn:45">45</a>
The skull is unknown except for possibly a portion of lower jaw found at the same site as the rest of the known Coelurus material. Although it has the same preservation and coloring as the <a href="/facts/Fossil/by7NzIA1">fossils</a> known to belong to the Coelurus skeleton, it is very slender, which may mean it does not belong to the skeleton; this bone is 7.9 centimeters long (3.1 in) but only 1.1 centimeters tall (0.43 in). In general, its <a href="/facts/Vertebrae/Nuw1kV7o">vertebrae</a> were long and low, with low <a href="/facts/Spinous_process/qAdLhD5H">neural spines</a> and thin walls to the <a href="/facts/Body_of_vertebra/qAdLhD5H">bodies</a> of the vertebrae. Its neck vertebrae were very pneumatic, with numerous hollow spaces on their surfaces (<a href="/facts/Vertebral_column/Nuw1kV7o">pleurocoels</a>); these hollows were not evenly distributed among the vertebrae and varied in size. The neck vertebrae were very elongate, with bodies four times longer than wide, and they articulated with concave faces on both ends (amphicoely). The back vertebrae were not as elongate, lacked surface hollows, and had less developed concave faces and bodies that were <a href="/facts/Hourglass/Dh43ssjk">hourglass</a>-shaped. The tail vertebrae also lacked surface hollows.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:46" href="#fn:46">46</a>

The only bone known from the shoulder girdle is a fragment of <a href="/facts/Scapula/CTHFHgx4">scapula</a>. The <a href="/facts/Humerus/9h0R2GuY">upper arm</a> had a distinct S-shaped curve in side view and was slightly longer than the <a href="/facts/Ulna/6J7D2mhe">forearm</a> (11.9 centimeters [4.7 in] versus 9.6 centimeters [3.8 in]). The wrist had a semilunate <a href="/facts/Carpal_bones/DjpaAuNd">carpal</a>† similar to that of <a href="/facts/Deinonychus/9zG2MVMC">Deinonychus</a>, and the fingers were long and slender. The only bone known from the pelvic girdle is paired and fused <a href="/facts/Pubis_(bone)/4gU0dgIy">pubis</a> bones, which had a prominent, long "foot" at the end. The <a href="/facts/Femur/uVyTwj4l">thigh bones</a> had an S-shape when viewed from the front. The <a href="/facts/Metatarsus/5sPXvop2">metatarsals</a> were unusually long and slender, nearly the length of the thigh bones (the best preserved thigh bone is about 21 centimeters long [8.3 in]).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:47" href="#fn:47">47</a>
The three best-known small theropods of the Morrison Formation — Coelurus, <a href="/facts/Ornitholestes/bdtF7GTl">Ornitholestes</a>, and <a href="/facts/Tanycolagreus/dCHvh9VT">Tanycolagreus</a> — were generalized coelurosaurs, and they have been mistaken for each other at various times. Now that Coelurus and Ornitholestes have been more fully described, it is possible to distinguish them by various characteristics of their anatomy. For example, they had visibly different proportions: Coelurus had a longer back and neck than Ornitholestes, and longer, more slender legs and feet.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:48" href="#fn:48">48</a> Coelurus and Tanycolagreus are more similar, but differ in a variety of details. Such details include the shape of the upper arm, forearm, and thigh bones; the location of muscle attachments on the thigh bone, proportionally longer back vertebrae; and, again, the very long metatarsus of Coelurus.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:49" href="#fn:49">49</a>

<h2 id="classification">Classification</h2>
Since the growth of <a href="/facts/Phylogenetics/bw4rsovt">phylogenetic</a> studies in the 1980s, Coelurus has usually been found to be a <a href="/facts/Coelurosauria/X8HRbjJI">coelurosaurian</a> of uncertain affinities, not fitting with the better-known <a href="/facts/Clade/XefyYmWn">clades</a> of the Cretaceous. Along with several other generalized coelurosaurians such as the <a href="/facts/Compsognathidae/thl1c860">compsognathids</a>, Ornitholestes, and <a href="/facts/Proceratosaurus/uwqs7KST">Proceratosaurus</a>, it has had multiple placements around the base of Coelurosauria.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:50" href="#fn:50">50</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:51" href="#fn:51">51</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:52" href="#fn:52">52</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:53" href="#fn:53">53</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:54" href="#fn:54">54</a> The phylogenetic analysis conducted by Rauhut (2003) and Smith et al. (2007) found that Coelurus was more closely related to compsognathids than to other coelurosaurs.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:55" href="#fn:55">55</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:56" href="#fn:56">56</a> Oliver Rauhut (2003) proposed that Coeluridae was composed of Coelurus plus the compsognathids,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:57" href="#fn:57">57</a> but he and others have not since found the compsognathids to group with Coelurus.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:58" href="#fn:58">58</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:59" href="#fn:59">59</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:60" href="#fn:60">60</a> However, a work published by Phil Senter in 2007 following the description of <a href="/facts/Tanycolagreus/dCHvh9VT">Tanycolagreus</a> found it and Coelurus to be closely related at the base of <a href="/facts/Tyrannosauroidea/sIUowTnq">Tyrannosauroidea</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:61" href="#fn:61">61</a> Senter proposed that Coelurus and Tanycolagreus were the only coelurids and were actually <a href="/facts/Tyrannosauroidea/sIUowTnq">tyrannosauroids</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:62" href="#fn:62">62</a> but the phylogenetic analysis of Turner et al. (2007b) found that Coelurus was a basal coelurosaur, although more derived than the tyrannosaurids.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:63" href="#fn:63">63</a> Zanno in 2010 recovered Coelurus as a basal maniraptoran.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:64" href="#fn:64">64</a> Coelurus is sometimes put into its own family, <a href="/facts/Coeluridae/SMVP7lmF">Coeluridae</a>, although the membership of the family has not been stable.
Before the use of phylogenetic analyses, Coeluridae and Coelurosauria were <a href="/facts/Wastebasket_taxon/tSBLEgRv">taxonomic wastebaskets</a> used for small theropods that did not belong to other groups; thus, they accumulated many <a href="/facts/Nomen_dubium/pxPDpId7">dubious</a> genera.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:65" href="#fn:65">65</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:66" href="#fn:66">66</a> As late as the 1980s, popular books recognized over a dozen "coelurids", including such disparate forms as the <a href="/facts/Noasauridae/Y0GvhPX7">noasaurid</a> <a href="/facts/Laevisuchus/8VR6dpU5">Laevisuchus</a> and the <a href="/facts/Oviraptorosauria/C6puS7KW">oviraptorosaurian</a> <a href="/facts/Microvenator/dT1JNL3R">Microvenator</a>, and considered them descendants of the <a href="/facts/Coelophysidae/beV6H2XH">coelophysids</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:67" href="#fn:67">67</a> A wastebasket Coeluridae lingered into the early 1990s in some sources<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:68" href="#fn:68">68</a> (and appears in at least one 2006 source)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:69" href="#fn:69">69</a> but since then it has only been recognized in a much reduced form.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:70" href="#fn:70">70</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:71" href="#fn:71">71</a> Coeluridae received a formal phylogenetic definition in 2015, when it was defined as all species more closely related to Coelurus fragilis than to Proceratosaurus bradleyi, Tyrannosaurus rex, Allosaurus fragilis, Compsognathus longipes, Ornithomimus edmontonicus, or Deinonychus antirrhopus by Hendrickx, Hartman and Mateus.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:72" href="#fn:72">72</a> It remains unclear whether or not this group contains any species other than Coelurus itself, and while Tanycolagreus is often included, support for this relationship has been weak in most of the studies that recovered it.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:73" href="#fn:73">73</a>
Below is a cladogram placing Coelurus in Coelurosauria by Cau et al. in 2015.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:74" href="#fn:74">74</a>

<table><tbody><tr><td><a href="/facts/Coelurosauria/X8HRbjJI">Coelurosauria</a></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Zuolong/dJL8ypHy">Zuolong</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Tugulusaurus/dwpps1AI">Tugulusaurus</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Tyrannoraptora/P9vlSqnI">Tyrannoraptora</a></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td><a href="/facts/Tyrannosauroidea/sIUowTnq">Tyrannosauroidea</a></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2">Coelurus</td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Tanycolagreus/dCHvh9VT">Tanycolagreus</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Guanlong/2lcnrryR">Guanlong</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Dilong_(dinosaur)/WNcs9lDy">Dilong</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Yutyrannus/ek6JkcJX">Yutyrannus</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Tyrannosaurus/HQw1cywX">Tyrannosaurus</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Sinocalliopteryx/DVJyUSXX">Sinocalliopteryx</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><table><tbody><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Compsognathidae/thl1c860">Compsognathidae</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td rowspan="2"><a href="/facts/Maniraptoriformes/5vm9Xez9">Maniraptoriformes</a></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table>
<h2 id="paleobiology-and-paleoecology">Paleobiology and paleoecology</h2>

The type specimen of Coelurus agilis, YPM 2010 (now considered a synonym of Coelurus fragilis) was recovered in the Brushy Basin member of the <a href="/facts/Morrison_Formation/N0SLjMe0">Morrison Formation</a>, in <a href="/facts/Albany_County%2c_Wyoming/4c2FKRoe">Albany County</a>, <a href="/facts/Wyoming/kuKmWryL">Wyoming</a>. The specimen was collected by Reed in gray sandstone and brown/green claystone that were deposited during the <a href="/facts/Kimmeridgian/rfTuYq4A">Kimmeridgian</a> <a href="/facts/Stage_(stratigraphy)/6HActMK7">stage</a> of the <a href="/facts/Jurassic/o5Cy4KzX">Jurassic</a> period, approximately 157 to 152 million years ago.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:75" href="#fn:75">75</a> This specimen is housed in the collection of the <a href="/facts/Yale_Peabody_Museum/a1wwYsra">Yale Peabody Museum</a> in <a href="/facts/New_Haven/dRanslgz">New Haven</a>, Connecticut.
The <a href="/facts/Morrison_Formation/N0SLjMe0">Morrison Formation</a> is interpreted as a <a href="/facts/Semiarid/XnSYao1E">semiarid</a> environment with distinct <a href="/facts/Wet_season/k3xU5RU4">wet</a> and <a href="/facts/Dry_season/jjdnthUQ">dry seasons</a>, and flat <a href="/facts/Floodplain/EUKqIbj5">floodplains</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:76" href="#fn:76">76</a> Vegetation varied from river-lining forests of <a href="/facts/Conifer/vDUgqxCx">conifers</a>, <a href="/facts/Tree_fern/CUXsE0QV">tree ferns</a>, and <a href="/facts/Fern/e6Cngdyo">ferns</a>, to fern <a href="/facts/Savanna/M0tPdd1l">savannas</a> with rare trees.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:77" href="#fn:77">77</a> It has been a rich fossil hunting ground, holding fossils of <a href="/facts/Chlorophyta/hRL4moDT">green algae</a>, <a href="/facts/Fungi/BHo5DP59">fungi</a>, <a href="/facts/Moss/YF8Rbf8y">mosses</a>, <a href="/facts/Equisetum/mkQoSHEz">horsetails</a>, ferns, <a href="/facts/Cycad/Kc2JDExr">cycads</a>, <a href="/facts/Ginkgo/4b2c7GeQ">ginkgoes</a>, and several families of <a href="/facts/Conifer/vDUgqxCx">conifers</a>. Other fossils discovered include <a href="/facts/Bivalve/IQDxHVc8">bivalves</a>, <a href="/facts/Snail/y94YHrPw">snails</a>, <a href="/facts/Actinopterygii/3PNaXXmJ">ray-finned fishes</a>, <a href="/facts/Frog/IxYhbeda">frogs</a>, <a href="/facts/Salamander/5pKurkwV">salamanders</a>, <a href="/facts/Turtle/X0ImnxYt">turtles</a> such as <a href="/facts/Uluops/7NY5NNPe">Uluops</a>, <a href="/facts/Sphenodontia/WftNntW9">sphenodonts</a>, <a href="/facts/Lizard/VPCpCwjT">lizards</a>, terrestrial and aquatic <a href="/facts/Crocodylomorpha/clPyHg6D">crocodylomorphs</a> like <a href="/facts/Fruitachampsa/eMpx4WA4">Fruitachampsa</a>, several species of <a href="/facts/Pterosaur/YNQwa1ru">pterosaur</a> like <a href="/facts/Kepodactylus/PgHtvkPE">Kepodactylus</a>, numerous dinosaur species, and early mammals such as <a href="/facts/Docodonta/M41TfBXh">docodonts</a>, <a href="/facts/Multituberculata/cGr5pfgy">multituberculates</a>, <a href="/facts/Symmetrodonta/j3pdCR3v">symmetrodonts</a>, and <a href="/facts/Triconodonta/vwVCCh22">triconodonts</a>. Such dinosaurs as the theropods <a href="/facts/Ceratosaurus/pgvNSTus">Ceratosaurus</a>, <a href="/facts/Allosaurus/tV8XJreT">Allosaurus</a>, Ornitholestes, and <a href="/facts/Torvosaurus/ws4BEJcP">Torvosaurus</a>, the <a href="/facts/Sauropod/8Iqh2yEJ">sauropods</a> <a href="/facts/Apatosaurus/1VJNlfzA">Apatosaurus</a>, <a href="/facts/Brachiosaurus/1ArBJ1V5">Brachiosaurus</a>, <a href="/facts/Camarasaurus/RV1mJwA9">Camarasaurus</a>, and <a href="/facts/Diplodocus/qnkupk9E">Diplodocus</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Ornithischia/g1SAFJvB">ornithischians</a> <a href="/facts/Camptosaurus/RaFLnv8S">Camptosaurus</a>, <a href="/facts/Hesperosaurus/SbtXNN2e">Hesperosaurus</a>, <a href="/facts/Nanosaurus/YIHfjSs8">Nanosaurus</a>, <a href="/facts/Fruitadens/LbbqGgDu">Fruitadens</a>, <a href="/facts/Dryosaurus/3boFY4yN">Dryosaurus</a>, and <a href="/facts/Stegosaurus/TBRwShrM">Stegosaurus</a> are known from the Morrison.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:78" href="#fn:78">78</a> Coelurus is regarded as a small terrestrial carnivore,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:79" href="#fn:79">79</a> feeding on small prey items like <a href="/facts/Insect/IgDNvnUL">insects</a>, <a href="/facts/Mammal/phSwTzBo">mammals</a>, and <a href="/facts/Lizard/VPCpCwjT">lizards</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:80" href="#fn:80">80</a> It is thought to have been a fast animal, certainly faster than the similar but shorter-footed Ornitholestes.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:81" href="#fn:81">81</a> Coelurus is present in stratigraphic zones 2 and 5 of the Morrison Formation.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:82" href="#fn:82">82</a>

<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>
^ † Not the same as the human <a href="/facts/Lunate_bone/DgAIkFQh">lunate bone</a>, but a wrist element with a half-moon shape.

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul>
<li>Dinosaurs portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101011112158/http://www.palaeos.com/Vertebrates/Units/340Theropoda/340.500.html#Coelurus">Coelurus</a> from Palaeos.com.</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Marsh, Othniel Charles (1879). "Notice of new Jurassic reptiles" (PDF). American Journal of Science. Series 3. 18 (108): 501–505. Bibcode:1879AmJS...18..501M. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-18.108.501. S2CID 131001110. <a href="/wiki/Othniel_Charles_Marsh" target="_blank">/wiki/Othniel_Charles_Marsh</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Jaffe, Mark (2000). The Gilded Dinosaur: The Fossil War Between E. D. Cope and O. C. Marsh and the Rise of American Science. New York, New York: Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-517-70760-9. <a href="978-0-517-70760-9" target="_blank">978-0-517-70760-9</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Marsh, Othniel Charles (1879). "Notice of new Jurassic reptiles" (PDF). American Journal of Science. Series 3. 18 (108): 501–505. Bibcode:1879AmJS...18..501M. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-18.108.501. S2CID 131001110. <a href="/wiki/Othniel_Charles_Marsh" target="_blank">/wiki/Othniel_Charles_Marsh</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Carpenter, Kenneth; Miles, Clifford; Ostrom, John H.; Cloward, Karen (2005). "Redescription of the small maniraptoran theropods Ornitholestes and Coelurus from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming". In Carpenter, Kenneth (ed.). The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 49–71. ISBN 978-0-253-34539-4. <a href="978-0-253-34539-4" target="_blank">978-0-253-34539-4</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Marsh, Othniel Charles (1881). "A new order of extinct Jurassic reptiles". American Journal of Science. 21 (124): 339–341. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-21.124.339. S2CID 130429452. <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/1450058" target="_blank">https://zenodo.org/record/1450058</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Carpenter, Kenneth; Miles, Clifford; Ostrom, John H.; Cloward, Karen (2005). "Redescription of the small maniraptoran theropods Ornitholestes and Coelurus from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming". In Carpenter, Kenneth (ed.). The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 49–71. ISBN 978-0-253-34539-4. <a href="978-0-253-34539-4" target="_blank">978-0-253-34539-4</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Ostrom, John H. (1980). "Coelurus and Ornitholestes: Are they the same?". In Jacobs, Louis L. (ed.). Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Edwin Harris Colbert. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press. pp. 245–256. ISBN 978-0-89734-052-6. <a href="978-0-89734-052-6" target="_blank">978-0-89734-052-6</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Marsh, Othniel Charles (1884). "Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs, Part 8: The Order Theropoda" (PDF). American Journal of Science. 27 (160): 29–40. Bibcode:1884AmJS...27..329M. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-27.160.329. S2CID 131076004. Retrieved 2011-11-06. <a href="http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201884%20-%20Principle%20characters%20of%20American%20Jurassic%20dinosaurs,%20Part%20VIII,%20The%20Order%20Theropoda.pdf" target="_blank">http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201884%20-%20Principle%20characters%20of%20American%20Jurassic%20dinosaurs,%20Part%20VIII,%20The%20Order%20Theropoda.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Marsh, Othniel Charles (1888). "Notice of a new genus of Sauropoda and other dinosaurs from the Potomac Formation" (PDF). American Journal of Science. 35 (205): 89–94. Bibcode:1888AmJS...35...89M. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-35.205.89. S2CID 130879860. <a href="http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201888%20-%20Notice%20of%20a%20new%20genus%20of%20Sauropoda%20and%20other%20new%20dinosaurs%20from%20the%20Potomac%20Formation.pdf" target="_blank">http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201888%20-%20Notice%20of%20a%20new%20genus%20of%20Sauropoda%20and%20other%20new%20dinosaurs%20from%20the%20Potomac%20Formation.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Cope, Edward Drinker (1887). "The dinosaurian genus Coelurus". American Naturalist. 21 (4): 367–369. doi:10.1086/274464. <a href="/wiki/Edward_Drinker_Cope" target="_blank">/wiki/Edward_Drinker_Cope</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Cope, Edward Drinker (1889). "On a new genus of Triassic Dinosauria". American Naturalist. 23 (271): 626. doi:10.1086/274979. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1903). "Ornitholestes hermanni, a new compsognathoid dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 19 (12): 459–464. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2008-01-20. <a href="/wiki/Henry_Fairfield_Osborn" target="_blank">/wiki/Henry_Fairfield_Osborn</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Gilmore, Charles W. (1920). "Osteology of the carnivorous dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus (Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus" (PDF). Bulletin of the United States National Museum (110): 1–159. doi:10.5479/si.03629236.110.i. hdl:2027/uiug.30112032536010. <a href="/wiki/Charles_W._Gilmore" target="_blank">/wiki/Charles_W._Gilmore</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Romer, Alfred S. (1956). Osteology of the Reptiles. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 772pp. ISBN 978-0-89464-985-1. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) <a href="978-0-89464-985-1" target="_blank">978-0-89464-985-1</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Romer, Alfred S. (1966). Vertebrate Paleontology (Third ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 468 pp. ISBN 978-0-7167-1822-2. <a href="978-0-7167-1822-2" target="_blank">978-0-7167-1822-2</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Steel, R. (1970). "Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology". Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart: 1–87. <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Ostrom, John H. (1980). "Coelurus and Ornitholestes: Are they the same?". In Jacobs, Louis L. (ed.). Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Edwin Harris Colbert. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press. pp. 245–256. ISBN 978-0-89734-052-6. <a href="978-0-89734-052-6" target="_blank">978-0-89734-052-6</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">Ostrom, John H. (1980). "Coelurus and Ornitholestes: Are they the same?". In Jacobs, Louis L. (ed.). Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Edwin Harris Colbert. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press. pp. 245–256. ISBN 978-0-89734-052-6. <a href="978-0-89734-052-6" target="_blank">978-0-89734-052-6</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">Russell, Dale A. (1972). "Ostrich dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous of western Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 9 (4): 375–402. Bibcode:1972CaJES...9..375R. doi:10.1139/e72-031. <a href="/wiki/Dale_Russell" target="_blank">/wiki/Dale_Russell</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">Ostrom, John H. (1980). "Coelurus and Ornitholestes: Are they the same?". In Jacobs, Louis L. (ed.). Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Edwin Harris Colbert. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press. pp. 245–256. ISBN 978-0-89734-052-6. <a href="978-0-89734-052-6" target="_blank">978-0-89734-052-6</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">Carpenter, Kenneth; Miles, Clifford; Ostrom, John H.; Cloward, Karen (2005). "Redescription of the small maniraptoran theropods Ornitholestes and Coelurus from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming". In Carpenter, Kenneth (ed.). The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 49–71. ISBN 978-0-253-34539-4. <a href="978-0-253-34539-4" target="_blank">978-0-253-34539-4</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">Makovicky, Peter J. (1997). "A new small theropod from the Morrison Formation of Como Bluff, Wyoming". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 17 (4): 755–757. doi:10.1080/02724634.1997.10011024. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:23">Miles, Clifford A.; Carpenter, Kenneth; Cloward, Karen (1998). "A new skeleton of Coelurus fragilis from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (3, Suppl): 64A. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011116. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:24">Carpenter, Kenneth; Miles, Clifford; Cloward, Karen (2005). "New small theropod from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming". In Carpenter, Kenneth (ed.). The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 23–48. ISBN 978-0-253-34539-4. <a href="978-0-253-34539-4" target="_blank">978-0-253-34539-4</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:25">Holtz, Thomas R. Jr.; Molnar, Ralph E.; Currie, Philip J. (2004). Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 71–110. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8. <a href="978-0-520-24209-8" target="_blank">978-0-520-24209-8</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:26">Ostrom, John H. (1980). "Coelurus and Ornitholestes: Are they the same?". In Jacobs, Louis L. (ed.). Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Edwin Harris Colbert. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press. pp. 245–256. ISBN 978-0-89734-052-6. <a href="978-0-89734-052-6" target="_blank">978-0-89734-052-6</a> <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:27">Marsh, Othniel Charles (1884). "Principal characters of American Jurassic dinosaurs, Part 8: The Order Theropoda" (PDF). American Journal of Science. 27 (160): 29–40. Bibcode:1884AmJS...27..329M. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-27.160.329. S2CID 131076004. Retrieved 2011-11-06. <a href="http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201884%20-%20Principle%20characters%20of%20American%20Jurassic%20dinosaurs,%20Part%20VIII,%20The%20Order%20Theropoda.pdf" target="_blank">http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201884%20-%20Principle%20characters%20of%20American%20Jurassic%20dinosaurs,%20Part%20VIII,%20The%20Order%20Theropoda.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:28">Cope, Edward Drinker (1887). "The dinosaurian genus Coelurus". American Naturalist. 21 (4): 367–369. doi:10.1086/274464. <a href="/wiki/Edward_Drinker_Cope" target="_blank">/wiki/Edward_Drinker_Cope</a> <a href="#fnref:28" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:29">Cope, Edward Drinker (1889). "On a new genus of Triassic Dinosauria". American Naturalist. 23 (271): 626. doi:10.1086/274979. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:29" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:30">Lydekker, Richard (1888). Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History). Part I. Containing the Orders Ornithosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Squamata, Rhynchocephalia, and Proterosauria. London: British Museum (Natural History). pp. 1–309. ISBN 978-0-543-95654-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) <a href="978-0-543-95654-5" target="_blank">978-0-543-95654-5</a> <a href="#fnref:30" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:31">von Huene, Friedrich (1923). "Carnivorous Saurischia in Europe since the Triassic". Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 34 (3): 449–458. Bibcode:1923GSAB...34..449V. doi:10.1130/GSAB-34-449. <a href="/wiki/Friedrich_von_Huene" target="_blank">/wiki/Friedrich_von_Huene</a> <a href="#fnref:31" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:32">Marsh, Othniel Charles (1888). "Notice of a new genus of Sauropoda and other dinosaurs from the Potomac Formation" (PDF). American Journal of Science. 35 (205): 89–94. Bibcode:1888AmJS...35...89M. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-35.205.89. S2CID 130879860. <a href="http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201888%20-%20Notice%20of%20a%20new%20genus%20of%20Sauropoda%20and%20other%20new%20dinosaurs%20from%20the%20Potomac%20Formation.pdf" target="_blank">http://marsh.dinodb.com/marsh/Marsh%201888%20-%20Notice%20of%20a%20new%20genus%20of%20Sauropoda%20and%20other%20new%20dinosaurs%20from%20the%20Potomac%20Formation.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:32" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:33">Gilmore, Charles W. (1920). "Osteology of the carnivorous dinosauria in the United States National Museum, with special reference to the genera Antrodemus (Allosaurus) and Ceratosaurus" (PDF). Bulletin of the United States National Museum (110): 1–159. doi:10.5479/si.03629236.110.i. hdl:2027/uiug.30112032536010. <a href="/wiki/Charles_W._Gilmore" target="_blank">/wiki/Charles_W._Gilmore</a> <a href="#fnref:33" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:34">Gilmore, Charles W. (1924). "A new coelurid dinosaur from the Belly River Cretaceous of Alberta". Canada Department of Mines Geological Survey Bulletin (Geological Series). 38 (43): 1–12. <a href="#fnref:34" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:35">Carpenter, Kenneth; Miles, Clifford; Ostrom, John H.; Cloward, Karen (2005). "Redescription of the small maniraptoran theropods Ornitholestes and Coelurus from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming". In Carpenter, Kenneth (ed.). The Carnivorous Dinosaurs. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 49–71. ISBN 978-0-253-34539-4. <a href="978-0-253-34539-4" target="_blank">978-0-253-34539-4</a> <a href="#fnref:35" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:36">Holtz, Thomas R. Jr.; Molnar, Ralph E.; Currie, Philip J. (2004). Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 71–110. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8. <a href="978-0-520-24209-8" target="_blank">978-0-520-24209-8</a> <a href="#fnref:36" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:37">Norman, David B. (1990). "Problematic theropoda: "coelurosaurs"". In Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (eds.). The Dinosauria. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 280–305. ISBN 978-0-520-06727-1. <a href="978-0-520-06727-1" target="_blank">978-0-520-06727-1</a> <a href="#fnref:37" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:38">Steel, R. (1970). "Part 14. Saurischia. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie/Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology". Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart: 1–87. <a href="#fnref:38" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:39">Ostrom, John H. (1980). "Coelurus and Ornitholestes: Are they the same?". In Jacobs, Louis L. (ed.). Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Edwin Harris Colbert. Flagstaff: Museum of Northern Arizona Press. pp. 245–256. ISBN 978-0-89734-052-6. <a href="978-0-89734-052-6" target="_blank">978-0-89734-052-6</a> <a href="#fnref:39" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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</ol>

Coelurus open-in-new

Coelurus