Coelurus

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Coelurus Fossil range: Late Jurassic
Conservation status
Extinct (fossil)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Saurischia Suborder: Theropoda (unranked) Coelurosauria Family: Coeluridae Genus: Coelurus
Binomial name
Coelurus fragilis Marsh, 1879

Coelurus (see-LOOR-us) was a coelurosaur dinosaur of the late Jurassic Period (Kimmeridgian-Tithonian stages, 150 million years ago). The name means "hollow tail" because its tail vertebrae were hollow (Greek koilos = hollow + oura = tail).

It was considered by some scientists to be the same animal as Ornitholestes, but new studies show them to be rather different animals.^[1] Coelurus had more slender body proportions than Ornitholestes, with elongated vertebrae and hindlimbs. It was discovered in the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, USA, in 1879 and described by Othniel Marsh.

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