Coelurosauria
clade of dinosaurs / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coelurosauria is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs.
Coelurosaurians | |
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A collection of coelurosaurian fossil skeletons: (Clockwise from upper left) GIN 100/42 which may represent Citipati or a different oviraptorosaur, Sinosauropteryx prima(a feathered compsognathid, Nothronychus mckinleyi(a therizinosaur), Tyrannosaurus rex(a large carnivorous tyrannosaur), Bambiraptor feinbergi(a small dromaeosaurid), Passer domesticus, Struthiomimus altus(an ornithomimid), Microraptor gui(a winged dromaeosaurid). | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Clade: | Avetheropoda |
Clade: | Coelurosauria von Huene, 1914 |
Subgroups[1] | |
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This is a varied group that includes tyrannosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, compsognathids and maniraptors; Maniraptora includes birds, the only descendents of coelurosaurs alive today.
All Paraves discovered so far have been coelurosaurs. It is probable that all coelurosaurs were feathered.[5]
Some diagnostic characteristics of coelurosaurs include elongated arms and well-developed hinge-like ankles (possible rotation of the ankle is reduced, which is helpful during locomotion). These features may be lost or modified by later coelurosaurs (birds, for example).
An increase in the proportion of the brain occupied by the cerebrum seems to have occurred in the Coelurosauria and "continued throughout the evolution of maniraptorans and early birds".[6]