Coelurosauria

Coelurosaurs
Temporal range:
Middle JurassicPresent, 165–0 Ma[1] Possible Early Jurassic record[2]
Six exemplar coelurosaurs (top left to bottom right): Tyrannosaurus, Sinosauropteryx, Deinonychus, Archaeopteryx, "Ronaldoraptor", and a house sparrow
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Saurischia
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: Avetheropoda
Clade: Coelurosauria
von Huene, 1914
Included taxa

Coelurosauria (/sɪˌljʊərəˈsɔːri.ə/;[3][4] from Greek, meaning "hollow-tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs.

Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyrannosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptorans; Maniraptora includes birds, the only known dinosaur group alive today.[5]

Most feathered dinosaurs discovered so far have been coelurosaurs. Philip J. Currie had considered it likely and probable that all coelurosaurs were feathered.[6] However, several skin impressions found for some members of this group show pebbly, scaly skin, indicating that feathers did not completely replace scales in all taxa. In the past, Coelurosauria was used to refer to all small theropods, but this classification has since been amended.

  1. ^ Zhang, H.; Wang, M.; Liu, X. (2008). "Constraints on the upper boundary age of the Tiaojishan Formation volcanic rocks in West Liaoning-North Hebei by LA-ICP-MS dating". Chinese Science Bulletin. 53 (22): 3574–3584. Bibcode:2008SciBu..53.3574Z. doi:10.1007/s11434-008-0287-4.
  2. ^ Barrett, P. M. (2009). "The affinities of the enigmatic dinosaur Eshanosaurus deguchiianus from the Early Jurassic of Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China". Palaeontology. 52 (4): 681−688. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2009.00887.x.
  3. ^ "coelurosaur". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2020-08-01.
  4. ^ "coelurosaur". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  5. ^ 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 History 371: 1–206.
  6. ^ Currie (2005), p. 368.