Morphology of Coelophysis-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment

Question: Discuss about the Coelophysis Morphology, Reproduction and Extinction. Answer: Morphology of Coelophysis: Coelophysis was a lightly built dinosaur that was small in size and walked on two legs. It was carnivorous, theropodous and almost 9 feet long. It had light and hollow bones, long and pointed yet flexible neck and small pointed head. This carnivorous dinosaur had dozens of small and serrated teeth. Due to this reason it was a fast as well as agile runner. The torso of this species conforms to a basic body shape of this theropod but its pectoral girdleexhibits some remarkable special characteristics. It had a furcular which is the earliest known characteristics of a dinosaur (Buckley, Currie, 2014). It had narrow hips and openacetabulumalong with straight ankle hinge which is the main characteristic of a dinosaur. The forelimbs were used for grasping. The long tail had interlockedprezygapophysisof vertebrae, that formed a semi-rigid lattice, which stopped the tail from moving up and down. Reproduction of Coelophysis: Coelophysis as other species of the dinosaurs reproduced by laying eggs. Each female Coelophysis laid between 24-26 eggs. The evidences show that parental care was needed to the comparatively small hatchlings in their first years. The females use to need much energy at the time of reproduction like other extinct reptiles of its similar size. Extinction of Coelophysis: However, fossilized skeletons of Coelophysis were found containing the bones of young ones in their bodies. This evidence demonstrates that unlike other reptiles, Coelophysis used to ate young babies after birth because the skeletons found in the rib cages or abdomens were of young Coelophysis. Moreover, they used to eat each other when opportunity arose (Brink et al., 2015). References: Brink, K. S., Reisz, R. R., LeBlanc, A. R. H., Chang, R. S., Lee, Y. C., Chiang, C. C., ... Evans, D. C. (2015). Developmental and evolutionary novelty in the serrated teeth of theropod dinosaurs.Scientific reports,5, 12338. Buckley, L. G., Currie, P. J. (2014).ANALYSIS OF INTRASPECIFIC AND ONTOGENETIC VARIATION IN THE DENTITION OF COELOPHYSIS BAURI (LATE TRIASSIC), AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SYSTEMATICS OF ISOLATED THEROPOD TEETH: Bulletin 63(Vol. 63). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science