(also coelurosaurus /siˌlo͝orəˈsôrəs/ /sē-/)
A small, slender, bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur with long forelimbs, from which the birds are believed to have evolved.
- Recent studies have agreed that T. rex and the tyrannosaurs belong with the coelurosaurs, not with the carnosaurs as was originally believed.
- Predatory dinosaurs of the Jurassic included fearsome carnosaurs such as Allosaurus, small, fast coelurosaurs, and ceratosaurs such as Dilophosaurus.
- Around the same time the allosaurs appeared, another subgroup of the tetanurans, the coelurosaurs, also branched off.
- Example sentences
- The discovery of coelurosaurian dinosaurs with remnants of several kinds of integumentary structures, including feathers, has revolutionized our thinking about the origin of feathers.
- He proposed that ratites and small coelurosaurian dinosaurs shared a common ancestor, and that the ancestors of ratites never acquired flight.
- Some archosaurs, such as birds and coelurosaurian dinosaurs also developed large brains, indicating a higher level of intelligence.
1950s: from Greek koilos 'hollow' + oura 'tail' + sauros 'lizard'.
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