Though most famous for its Triassic record, the coelophysids were a greatly successful group, surviving into the Early Jurassic across North America and Africa. They were light-boned, fleet-footed predators, well-suited to a world of small prey which could run just as fast as it could. They are placed within the Theropoda, and are believed to be more primitive than the ceratosaurs and tetanurans.
Coelophysis bauri was first described by Edward Drinker Cope in 1889 from fossils found in the American Southwest, but it's unsure if these fossils even belong to the dinosaur at all. Later bones attributed to Coelophysis definitely belong to a theropod dinosaur, and as such, Coelophysis is still a valid dinosaurian genus.
Coelophysidae is also home to what is, possibly, the worst dinosaur name ever: Megapnosaurus. Once beloved by dinosaur fans as Syntarsus, the entomologists struck again: Syntarsus was taken by a beetle. In some miscarriage of justice, the entomologists who pointed this out now had the right to rename the animal. It is now Megapnosaurus - "big dead reptile". I'm not sure if this shows a twisted sense of humor on the entomologists' parts, or simply ignorance as to the true nature of dinosaurs.
This family posesses seven species across six genera.
Coelophysidae (Nopsca, 1923)
Coelophysis bauri (Cope, 1889)
Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis (Raath, 1969)
Megapnosaurus kayentakatae (Rowe, 1989)
Camposaurus arizonensis (Hunt et al., 1998)
Podokesaurus holyokensis (Talbot, 1911)
Procompsognathus triassicus (Fraas, 1913)
Segisaurus halli (Camp, 1936)
(Sorry for paragraph-fail. I blame the website!)
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