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Description
Name: Coelophysis bauri
Clade: Dinosauria-> Theropoda-> Coelophysidae
Diet: Carnivore (small vertebrates)
Size: Up to 3 metres in length, 1 metre in height, 250 kilograms in weight
Biomes: Coastal, Desert, Tropical, Wetland
Dig Site: Chinle Formation, USA
Time period: Late Triassic (Norian Stage)
Star rating: 1 Star
Compatible species: None

With hundreds of its skulls and skeletons recovered, the slender Coelophysis is one of the most well-known inhabitants of the Triassic Chinle Formation! Fossils of Coelophysis bauri specifically are known exclusively from outcrops of this formation in New Mexico (insert Breaking Bad joke here lmao); in the past, two additional Early Jurassic species (Coelophysis rhodesiensis and Coelophysis kayentakatae) were assigned to the genus, but they have a…complicated taxonomic history and the most recent paper on the debacle has proposed the removal of them from Coelophysis (with C. rhodesiensis now being Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis and C. kayentakatae assigned to an as-yet unnamed genus). Coelophysis proper and its closest relatives are quite primitive by theropod standards; Coelophysidae falls outside of Averostra, the clade that includes pretty much all of the more advanced theropods we’ve seen in this project so far. In stark contrast to Gorgosaurus, Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus, Coelophysis was primarily a predator of small prey such as the crocodile relative Hesperosuchus (remains of which within a Coelophysis’ body cavity were originally mistaken for a juvenile of its own kind that it had cannibalised!), with analysis of its sclerotic rings (this time by Rinehart et al) indicating keen, hawk-like vision with which it detected its prey. This was not yet a world where dinosaurs ruled; the several species of dinosaur recovered from the Chinle are all small theropods or small and theropod-like, with strange archosaurs (the wider group that includes dinosaurs and modern crocodiles) and synapsids taking the large carnivore and large herbivore niches. That’s not to say Coelophysis wasn’t successful, and (if the sheer number of fossils is any indication) it appears to have been quite numerous! At the famous Ghost Ranch site (discovered by Edwin Colbert in 1947) at least 1000 individual Coelophysis (both complete skeletons and partial remains) have been found, a massive accumulation of dead dinosaurs likely caused by a drought or some other natural disaster. Fossils from Ghost Ranch have helped us decipher the life history and ontogeny of Coelophysis: growth trajectories within the species were highly variable, with individuals of the same age having very different sizes and morphologies (the species is split into more slender “gracile” and bulkier “robust” morphs). This highly unusual growth is not seen in later groups of dinosaurs, but is seen in Megapnosaurus and some other early theropods (and possibly in some early sauropodomorphs too). Analysis of juvenile Coelophysis suggests that this was an r-selected species, producing huge amounts of young whilst putting less effort into looking after them; fortunately, it seems that juvenile Coelophysis were capable predators, wielding similar adaptations to seizing their prey in their jaws as the adults! In-game, Coelophysis is slightly more sociable than your average carnivore, and much more variable in appearance too! These dinosaurs are quite adaptable, able to thrive in dry or wet environments, and thus are an excellent starter animal for your parks.

After 27 entries we finally have our first Triassic animal! The next few entries are probably all gonna be lower-rated stars-wise, due to the relative small size and obscurity of the Triassic animals I plan to cover, though tbf since there are so many 3 Star animals atm that works quite well anyway. I picked the Chinle Formation both due to the huge variety of animals known from there and (of course) the fact it was in Walking with Dinosaurs lmao. It does admittedly keep this series’ bias towards North America going unfortunately, but ah well. Just so I don’t get anyone’s hopes up, Postosuchus will probably not be showing up (all remains originally assigned to it in the Chinle have since been moved to other taxa and there’s now a question as to how widespread the genus actually is) but I am looking into some alternatives…
As for Coelophysis itself, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out! Once again I used Scott Hartman’s skeletal of it (www.skeletaldrawing.com/therop… ) as a reference, whilst the colours are based on Palaeo Pines’ rendition of Coelophysis (which I thought were quite striking!). I believe Hartman’s skeletal is of the robust morph, though of course the gracile morph would be represented in-game as well. I could probably have added quills or something, but I decided to go more conservative with this reconstruction.

Up next: some more aviary exhibits!

Description
Name: Coelophysis bauri
Clade: Dinosauria-> Theropoda-> Coelophysidae
Diet: Carnivore (small vertebrates)
Size: Up to 3 metres in length, 1 metre in height, 250 kilograms in weight
Biomes: Coastal, Desert, Tropical, Wetland
Dig Site: Chinle Formation, USA
Time period: Late Triassic (Norian Stage)
Star rating: 1 Star
Compatible species: None

With hundreds of its skulls and skeletons recovered, the slender Coelophysis is one of the most well-known inhabitants of the Triassic Chinle Formation! Fossils of Coelophysis bauri specifically are known exclusively from outcrops of this formation in New Mexico (insert Breaking Bad joke here lmao); in the past, two additional Early Jurassic species (Coelophysis rhodesiensis and Coelophysis kayentakatae) were assigned to the genus, but they have a…complicated taxonomic history and the most recent paper on the debacle has proposed the removal of them from Coelophysis (with C. rhodesiensis now being Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis and C. kayentakatae assigned to an as-yet unnamed genus). Coelophysis proper and its closest relatives are quite primitive by theropod standards; Coelophysidae falls outside of Averostra, the clade that includes pretty much all of the more advanced theropods we’ve seen in this project so far. In stark contrast to Gorgosaurus, Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus, Coelophysis was primarily a predator of small prey such as the crocodile relative Hesperosuchus (remains of which within a Coelophysis’ body cavity were originally mistaken for a juvenile of its own kind that it had cannibalised!), with analysis of its sclerotic rings (this time by Rinehart et al) indicating keen, hawk-like vision with which it detected its prey. This was not yet a world where dinosaurs ruled; the several species of dinosaur recovered from the Chinle are all small theropods or small and theropod-like, with strange archosaurs (the wider group that includes dinosaurs and modern crocodiles) and synapsids taking the large carnivore and large herbivore niches. That’s not to say Coelophysis wasn’t successful, and (if the sheer number of fossils is any indication) it appears to have been quite numerous! At the famous Ghost Ranch site (discovered by Edwin Colbert in 1947) at least 1000 individual Coelophysis (both complete skeletons and partial remains) have been found, a massive accumulation of dead dinosaurs likely caused by a drought or some other natural disaster. Fossils from Ghost Ranch have helped us decipher the life history and ontogeny of Coelophysis: growth trajectories within the species were highly variable, with individuals of the same age having very different sizes and morphologies (the species is split into more slender “gracile” and bulkier “robust” morphs). This highly unusual growth is not seen in later groups of dinosaurs, but is seen in Megapnosaurus and some other early theropods (and possibly in some early sauropodomorphs too). Analysis of juvenile Coelophysis suggests that this was an r-selected species, producing huge amounts of young whilst putting less effort into looking after them; fortunately, it seems that juvenile Coelophysis were capable predators, wielding similar adaptations to seizing their prey in their jaws as the adults! In-game, Coelophysis is slightly more sociable than your average carnivore, and much more variable in appearance too! These dinosaurs are quite adaptable, able to thrive in dry or wet environments, and thus are an excellent starter animal for your parks.

After 27 entries we finally have our first Triassic animal! The next few entries are probably all gonna be lower-rated stars-wise, due to the relative small size and obscurity of the Triassic animals I plan to cover, though tbf since there are so many 3 Star animals atm that works quite well anyway. I picked the Chinle Formation both due to the huge variety of animals known from there and (of course) the fact it was in Walking with Dinosaurs lmao. It does admittedly keep this series’ bias towards North America going unfortunately, but ah well. Just so I don’t get anyone’s hopes up, Postosuchus will probably not be showing up (all remains originally assigned to it in the Chinle have since been moved to other taxa and there’s now a question as to how widespread the genus actually is) but I am looking into some alternatives…
As for Coelophysis itself, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out! Once again I used Scott Hartman’s skeletal of it (www.skeletaldrawing.com/therop… ) as a reference, whilst the colours are based on Palaeo Pines’ rendition of Coelophysis (which I thought were quite striking!). I believe Hartman’s skeletal is of the robust morph, though of course the gracile morph would be represented in-game as well. I could probably have added quills or something, but I decided to go more conservative with this reconstruction.

Up next: some more aviary exhibits!