Dino of the Week: Camposaurus

Type Species: Camposaurus arizonensis

Classification: Dinosauria - Saurischia - Theropoda- Coelophysoidea - Coelophysidae 

Time Period: Late Triassic

Location: North America

Diet: Carnivore

Camposaurus emerged in the Norian stage of the Late Triassic of North America. These feisty carnivores belonged to a group of theropods called the coelophysids; these were slender, carnivorous dinosaurs that include Coelophysis, Procompsognathus, and Liliensternus. Some coelophysoids lived in packs, but not necessarily all. They may have had scales, pebbly hides, or even feathers. Camposaurus, as one of the earliest coelophysoids, has been regarded by many paleontologists as the oldest known neotheropod (a group of theropods that emerged during the Upper Triassic and would spawn the dilophosaurs, ceratosaurs, and tetanurans – the latter of which continues to the present day in the form of birds). 

We have only fragmentary remains of this carnivorous dinosaur – mostly partial leg bones – so our knowledge of this creature isn’t spectacular. What is known is that it was small, but not much else. Its classification in the ‘dinosaur family tree’ has been here and there over the years. In 1995 it was considered a Ceratosaur; slightly later it was identified as simply another species of the infamous Coelophysis. In 2011, based upon phylogenic studies, it was distinguished from Coelophysis but only by a hair’s breadth, making them closely related. Because of its close affinity with Coelophysis, scientists guess that Camposaurus may have been a social animal that lived in packs and that it would’ve fed on small mammals, insects, fish, and the plethora of amphibians of the Upper Triassic ecosystems.