Coelophysis

Say it: SEE-low-FIE-sis

Name means: “hollow form”1

Ate: MeatOther meat-eatersLate Triassic to Early Jurassic

Coelophysis was a small, fast dinosaur that lived in the late Triassic period. It ran on two legs and had sharp teeth for eating meat. Hundreds of its skeletons have been found together in New Mexico, USA.1 2

Lived

227 to 193 million years ago3

Late Triassic to Early Jurassic

Fossils found in

New Mexico and Arizona, USA1 3

Food

Meat1

Length

2 to 3 m1 2

Weight

18 kg to 23 kg2

Artist's life restoration of Coelophysis — How Coelophysis may have looked, by ABelov2014. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Coelophysis is one of the earliest known dinosaur genera, living about 215 to 201 million years ago.1

A huge pile of hundreds of Coelophysis skeletons was found at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico in 1947.2

Coelophysis had about 26 teeth in its upper jaw and 27 in its lower jaw.1

Its arms were flexible but weak, so it probably hunted animals much smaller than itself.1

Coelophysis was very light, weighing only about as much as a big dog.2

Some scientists once thought Coelophysis was the same as another dinosaur called Rioarribasaurus, but now most agree they are different.1

Myth buster

Myth: Coelophysis swallowed its young whole.

Truth: A fossil once thought to show a baby Coelophysis inside an adult is actually a different reptile or a mistake. There is no proof it ate its own young.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Coelophysis
Named by: Cope 18893
Group: Other meat-eaters
Family / clade: Coelophysidae3
Classification: Theropoda > Coelophysoidea3
Age of the rocks: 227 to 193 million years (Norian to Sinemurian)3
Rock formations: Chinle, Petrified Forest, Tecovas3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 26 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Rioarribasaurus (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Edward Drinker Cope named Coelophysis in 1889, based on bones collected by David Baldwin in 1881 from New Mexico, USA.1 3
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether some fossils from other parts of the world belong to Coelophysis or to similar dinosaurs.1

Where the facts come from

Coelophysis (en.wikipedia.org)
Coelophysis | Triassic, Carnivore, Reptile | Britannica (britannica.com)
Coelophysis in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.