Extinct Archosaurs Codexery

Coelurosauria

The clade of hollow-tailed theropods that includes birds and many feathered dinosaurs.

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Compsognathids, tyrannosauroids, ornithomimosaurs, maniraptorans, and megaraptorans (though their placement is uncertain) are all part of the theropod subgroup Coelurosauria.[1] Birds, which are the sole surviving dinosaur lineage, fall within the Maniraptora subgroup.[1] A greater number of feathered dinosaur fossils have been identified as coelurosaurs than as any other group.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassReptilia
  4. CladeDinosauria
  5. CladeSaurischia
  6. Clade

Named by von Huene, 1914

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Coelurosauria (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Key facts and history

Later groups would hold on to omnivory, while others specialized as insectivorous, herbivorous, or carnivorous.[3] A few fossil traces tentatively associated with Coelurosauria date as far back as the late Triassic.[4] An increase in the proportion of the brain occupied by the cerebrum seems to have occurred with the advent of the Coelurosauria.[5] Philip J. Currie thought it probable that every coelurosaur possessed feathers, yet some skin impressions reveal pebbly, scaly integument.[2]

Analysis of coelurosaur anatomy suggests their last common ancestor had already developed the capacity to process plant material.[3] Proceratosaurus and Kileskus, both proceratosaurid tyrannosauroids from the late Middle Jurassic, are the earliest undisputed coelurosaurs.[4]

What the cited sources add

A ScienceDaily account notes that Coelurosauria includes the iconic hunters Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor.[6] The same source states that many coelurosaurian dinosaurs have ambiguous adaptations such as peg-like teeth or no teeth at all, making diet determination challenging.[6] After collecting dietary data for almost 100 coelurosaur species, Zanno and Makovicky used statistical analyses to correlate skeletal traits with direct evidence of plant eating.[6] The researchers found that 44 theropod species across six major lineages were eating plants and that the ancestor to most feathered dinosaurs and modern birds had probably already lost its appetite for flesh alone.[6]

Because plant eating was found to be so widespread, the hypercarnivorous habits of T. rex and Velociraptor should be viewed "more as the exception than the rule," Zanno says.[6] Coelurosaurian theropods were an extremely successful group throughout the Cretaceous Period (145-65 million years ago).[6] Zanno noted that the ability to eat plant materials may have played a pivotal role in allowing coelurosaurian dinosaurs to achieve such remarkable species diversity.[6]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Coelurosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Turner, A.H., Makovicky, P.J., and Norell, M.A. 2012. A review of dromaeosaurid systematics and paravian phylogeny. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural H (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Coelurosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Currie 2005, p. 368 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Coelurosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Meat-eating dinosaurs not so carnivorous after all", ScienceDaily (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Coelurosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cranial osteology and phylogenetic position of the theropod dinosaur Proceratosaurus bradleyi (Woodward, 1910) from the Middle Jurassic of England", Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, p. 155–195; "A new basal coelurosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Siberia", Proceedings of the Zoological Institute, 2010, p. 42–57 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Coelurosauria" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Larsson 2001, p. 19 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Meat-eating dinosaurs not so carnivorous after all", ScienceDaily. facts only, no text reused. sciencedaily.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Coelurosauria (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Also in the Codexery

Coelurosauria · Prehistoric Beasts

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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