Liliensternus

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Liliensternus
Fossil range: Late Triassic

Liliensternus liliensterni

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Superorder:	Dinosauria
Order:	Saurischia
Suborder:	Theropoda
Superfamily:	Coelophysoidea
Genus:	Liliensternus

Binomial name

Liliensternus liliensterni
Welles, 1984

Liliensternus was a genus of coelophysoid dinosaur from the Late Triassic period, between about 215-200 mya. Liliensternus was originally found in 1934 in Germany and was named after the German scientist, Count Von Lilienstern. Liliensternus was around 6 meters long and may have preyed on herbivores like Plateosaurus. It probably weighed around 400 kilograms.

The type species is Liliensternus liliensterni. A second species, Liliensternus airelensis, which had an extra pair of cervical pleurocoels, is now considered a separate genus, Lophostropheus.

[edit] References

Ezcurra, M.D, and Cuny, G. (2007). "The coelophysoid Lophostropheus airelensis, gen. nov.: a review of the systematics of "Liliensternus" airelensis from the Triassic-Jurassic boundary outcrops of Normandy (France)." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27(1): 73-86.