Family
Valid Extinct

Coeluridae

coelurid
Marsh 1881

Coeluridae is a historically unnatural group of generally small, carnivorous dinosaurs from the late Jurassic Period. For many years, any small Jurassic or Cretaceous theropod that did not belong to one of the more specialized families recognized at the time was classified with the coelurids, creating a confusing array of 'coelurid' theropods that were not closely related. Although they have been traditionally included in this family, there is no evidence that any of these primitive coelurosaurs form a natural group with Coelurus, the namesake of Coeluridae, to the exclusion of other traditional coelurosaur groups.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
30
Group
Dinosaures
Carnivore Ground dwelling, solitary Terrestrial
Coeluridae
click to enlarge
Coelurus fragilis, a coelurosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America, pencil drawing, digital coloring © Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
Coeluridae
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Tetanurae Unranked clade
Coelurosauria Unranked clade
Tyrannosauroidea Superfamily
Coeluridae Family
Fossil sites 30 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇺🇸 United States
16
🇵🇹 Portugal
5
🇨🇳 China
2
🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan
1
🇪🇸 Spain
1
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan
1
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
1
🇹🇯 Tajikistan
1
🇲🇳 Mongolia
1
🇨🇦 Canada
1
Geological formations
Argilas de Aveiro
5
Ziliujing
1
Balabansai
1
Sasykol
1
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
20
Campanian (83.6–72.2 Ma)
2
Santonian (85.7–83.6 Ma)
1
Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma)
1
Aptian (121.4–113.2 Ma)
1
Barremian (125.77–121.4 Ma)
1
Tithonian (149.2–143.1 Ma)
2
Callovian (165.3–161.5 Ma)
1
Aalenian (174.7–170.9 Ma)
1
Synonyms (1)
Coelurosauridae subjective synonym of Coeluridae
Images 11
Bibliography
Original description
O. C. Marsh. 1881. A new order of extinct Jurassic reptiles (Coeluria). American Journal of Science 21:339-340 DOI ↗
Bibliography (13)
S. G. Dalman. 2014. New data on small theropod dinosaurs from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Como Bluff, Wyoming, USA. Volumina Jurassica 12(2):181-196
A. P. Hunt and S. G. Lucas. 2006. A small theropod dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic of eastern New Mexico with a checklist of small theropods from the Morrison Formation of western North America. Paleontology and Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 36:115-118
M. T. Carrano. 2005. Fossil Vertebrate Collections, University of California Museum of Paleontology
D. A. Pearson, T. Schaefer, and K. R. Johnson, D. J. Nichols, J. P. Hunter. 2002. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Hell Creek Formation in southwestern North Dakota and northwestern South Dakota. The Hell Creek Formation and the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary in the Northern Great Plains: An Integrated Continental Record of the End of the Cretaceous, Geological Society of America Special Paper 361:145-167 DOI ↗
L. A. Nessov. 1995. Dinozavri severnoi Yevrazii: Novye dannye o sostave kompleksov, ekologii i paleobiogeografii [Dinosaurs of northern Eurasia: new data about assemblages, ecology, and paleobiogeography]. Institute for Scientific Research on the Earth's Crust, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg
M. T. Antunes and D. Sigogneau. 1992. La faune des petits dinosaures du Crétacé terminal portugais [The small dinosaur fauna from the Portuguese terminal Cretaceous]. Comunicações dos Serviços Geológicos de Portugal 78(1):49-62
R. Estes and B. Sanchíz. 1982. Early Cretaceous lower vertebrates from Galve (Teruel), Spain. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 2(1) DOI ↗
J. G. Armstrong-Ziegler. 1978. An aniliid snake and associated vertebrates from the Campanian of New Mexico. Journal of Paleontology 52(2):480-483
W. Langston. 1975. The ceratopsian dinosaurs and associated lower vertebrates from the St. Mary River Formation (Maestrichtian) at Scabby Butte, southern Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 12:1576-1608 DOI ↗
R. Estes, P. Berberian, and C. A. M. Meszoely. 1969. Lower vertebrates from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, McCone County, Montana. Breviora 337:1-33
Z. Kielan-Jaworowska and K. Kowalski. 1965. Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions to the Gobi Desert in 1963 and 1964. Bulletin de l'Académie Polonaise des Sciences, Cl. II 13(3):175-179
S.-Y. Hu. 1963. [The carnivorous dinosaurian remains from Fusin, Liaoning]. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 7(2):174-176
C.-C. Young. 1944. On the reptilian remains from Weiyuan, Szechuan, China. Bulletin of the Geological Society of China 24(3–4):187-205 DOI ↗