Compsognathus: Forskelle mellem versioner

I årtier var ''Compsognathus'' kendt som den mindste dinosaur der var fundet; resterne, der er blevet fundet viser, at den var omkring 1 meter lang. Dinosaurer, der er blevet fundet senere -– f.eks. ''[[Caenagnathasia]]'', ''[[Microraptor]]'' og ''[[Parvicursor]]'' -– var dog endnu mindre. Det største eksemplar af ''Compsognathus'' er anslået til at have vejet et sted mellem 0,83 og 3,5 kg.<ref name=TH07>{{cite journal |last=Therrien |first=F. |coauthors= Henderson, D.M. |year=2007 |title=My theropod is bigger than yours...or not: estimating body size from skull length in theropods |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=108–115 |doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[108:MTIBTY]2.0.CO;2}}</ref><ref name="seebacher2001">{{cite journal | doi = 10.1671/0272-4634(2001)021[0051:ANMTCA]2.0.CO;2 | last1 = Seebacher | first1 = F. | year = 2001 | title = A new method to calculate allometric length-mass relationships of dinosaurs | url = | journal = Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology | volume = 21 | issue = 1| pages = 51–60 }}</ref>

''Compsognathus'' har givet navn til familien [[Compsognathidae]], der er en gruppe af dinosaurer, der mest indeholder små individer fra den sene Jura- og tidlige Kridttid i [[Kina]], [[Europa]] og [[Sydamerika]].<ref name="Peyer06"/> I mange år var den det eneste medlem der var kendt, men i de senere årtier har palæontologer fundet flere medlemmer. Kladen inkluderer ''[[Aristosuchus]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last= Seeley|first= H.G.|coauthors = |year=1887|title= On ''Aristosuchus pusillus'' (Owen), being further notes on the fossils described by Sir. R. Owen as ''Poikilopleuron pusillus'', Owen|journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London|volume= 43|issue=|pages=221–228|doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1887.043.01-04.22|url=}}</ref> ''[[Huaxiagnathus]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last= Hwang|first= S.H. |coauthors = M. A. Norell, J. Qiang and G. Keqin |year=2004|title= A large compsognathid from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China |journal=Journal of Systematic Paleontology |volume= 2|issue=|pages=13–39 |doi=10.1017/S1477201903001081}}</ref> ''[[Mirischia]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last= Naish|first= D.|coauthors = Martill, D. M. and Frey, E. |year=2004|title= Ecology, systematics and biogeographical relationships of dinosaurs, including a new theropod, from the Santana Formation (?Albian, Early Cretaceous) of Brazil|journal=Historical Biology|volume=|issue=|pages=1–14|doi=|url=}}</ref> ''[[Sinosauropteryx]]'',<ref name="Currie2001">{{cite journal |last= Currie|first= P.J.|coauthors = P. Chen |year=2001|title= Anatomy of Sinosauropteryx prima from Liaoning, northeastern China|journal=Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume= 38|issue= 12|pages=1705–1727 |doi=10.1139/cjes-38-12-1705}}</ref><ref name="Ji1996">{{cite journal |last= Ji|first= Q. |coauthors = Ji S.A. |year=1996|title= On discovery of the earliest bird fossil in China and the origin of birds (in Chinese)|journal=Chinese Geology |volume= 233|issue=|pages=30–33|doi=|url=}}</ref> og måske ''[[Juravenator]]''<ref>{{cite journal |last= Göhlich|first= U.|coauthors = L. M Chiappe|year=2006|title= A new carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen archipelago|journal=Nature|volume=440|issue=7082|pages=329–332 |doi=10.1038/nature04579 |pmid= 16541071 }}</ref> og ''[[Scipionyx]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Dal Sasso|first= C.|coauthors = M. Signore|year=1998|title= Exceptional soft-tissue preservation in a theropod dinosaur from Italy|journal=Nature|volume=392|issue=6674|pages=383–387 |doi=10.1038/32884|bibcode=1998Natur.392..383D}}</ref> På et tidspunkt blev ''[[Mononykus]]'' anset som værende medlem af familien, men denne idé blev afvist af Chen og medforfattere på en afhandling i 1998: De anså ligheder mellem ''Mononykus''-compsognathiderne som værende et eksempel på [[konvergent evolution]].<ref name ="Chen"/> ''Compsognathus''' og dens slægtninges plads i [[Coelurosauria|coelurosaur]]-gruppen er usikker. Nogle, så som theropod-eksperten [[Thomas R. Holtz Jr.|Thomas Holtz Jr.]] og medforfatterne [[Ralph Molnar]] og [[Phil Currie]] i den skelsættende tekst ''Dinosauria'' fra 2004, identificerer familien som den mest [[Basal (phylogenetik)|basale]] af coelurosaurerne,<ref name ="dinosauria04">{{cite book|title=The Dinosauria (2nd Edition)|year=2004|chapter=Basal Tetanurae|editor=Weishampel DB, Osmólska H, Dodson P|author=Holtz TR, Molnar RE, Currie PJ|pages=105|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0-520-24209-2}}</ref> mens andre ser den som en del af [[Maniraptora]].<ref>{{cite journal |last= Gauthier|first= J.A.|coauthors = |year=1986|title= Saurischian monophyly and the origin of birds|journal=In Padian, K. (ed.) the Origin of Birds and the Evolution of Flight, Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences |volume=8|issue=|pages=1–55|doi=|url=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last= Forster|first= C.A.|coauthors = Sampson, S.D., Chiappe, L.M. & Krause, D.W. |year=1998|title= The theropod ancestry of birds: new evidence from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar|journal=Science|volume=279|issue=5358|pages=1915–1919 |doi=10.1126/science.279.5358.1915|pmid= 9506938 }}</ref>