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Triassic Period--Coelophysis, and early dinosaurs

• Commonly asked questions about Coelophysis and Ghost Ranch. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Excellent site with information about the early theropod dinosaur Coelophysis, and the digs at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Quick answers and images are provided for common questions, but there are also more detailed descriptions of the history of the site and fossil investigations, including links to pdfs of general and technical reports about the site, the dinosaurs, and associated fauna.
• Triassic dinosaurs. Wikipedia. Quick links to more than 50 Triassic dinosaurs.
• Walking with Dinosaurs Chronology, BBC. Information about the animals of the Late Triassic, including the Triassic dinosaurs Coelophysis and Plateosaurus. Based on the "Walking with Dinosaurs" video series.
• Triassic Period, Enchanted Learning-Zoom Dinosaurs. Fun, nontechnical summary of the geology, climate, and life of the Triassic Period. Fact sheets, K-3 appropriate printouts, and classroom activities are provided. Also at this site are concise summaries of the Triassic dinosaurs Eoraptor, Coelophysis,and Plateosaurus.
• Lecture 11--Great Triassic Assemblages, Columbia University, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. Maps and description of the Chinle Group (western United States), which is famous for its Triassic fossils, including the Coelophysis fossils at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Scroll down the page to get to Coelophysis text and images.
• Prosauropods. SUNY (State University of New York) Orange Online Biology Library. Slightly technical explanation of what prosauropods are, how they lived, when they lived, where they lived, differences among different types of prosauropods and the relationship between prosauropods and their larger cousins, the sauropods.
• Dinosaur Cannibal?--Mystery in New Mexico, Hillary Mayell, National Geographic News. Online article discussing the idea that Coelophysis was a cannibal, based on the discovery of small Coelophysis skeletons in the abdomens of larger Coelophysis.
• Paleontologists Overturn Claim that Coelophysis was a Cannibal. American Museum of Natural History. Short news article summarizing research that reexamined the fossil gut contents of Coelophysis and determined that the dinosaur’s last meal was small crocodiles rather than baby Coelophysis. The technical paper in Biology Letters by Nesbitt and others (2006), which shows the reasons the claims of cannibalism may be overturned is available as an online pdf.
• Coelophysis. Wikipedia. Summary with pictures of this famous early theropod dinosaur from the Triassic of the United States.
• Plateosaurus. Wikipedia. Summary with pictures of this famous prosauropod dinosaur from the Triassic of Africa.

 

See also Triassic Period-Dinosaur origins and oldest dinosaurs

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