Ornitholestid

Quick meaning: Ornitholestid is a noun meaning (zoology, very rare) Any member of the family †Ornitholestidae, now superseded by family †Compsognathidae.

Meaning

(zoology, very rare) Any member of the family †Ornitholestidae, now superseded by family †Compsognathidae.

Example Sentences

Aublysodonts and tyrannosaurs appear to have been the culmination of the ornitholestid-allosaur-tyrannosaur group.

E. H. Colbert (pers. commun. to Harshbarger, 1957) suggested that Segisaurus looks very much like an ornitholestid; Ornitholestes is found in the Morrison Formation (Jurassic).

In proportions, and especially in their uncompressed central metatarsal, Avisaurus retains the conservative condition seen in such basal theopods as Coelophysis and Ceratosaurus (Fig. 2), and thus retains a basal condition compared to derived theropods and Archaeopteryx, which have proximally pinched central metatarsi (eg, compsognathids, ornitholestids, allosaurids, tyrannosaurids, elmisaurids, ornithomimids, dromaeosaurs and saurornithoidids; Paul, 1984).

Word Forms

• ornitholestids

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include ornithologer, ornithothoracine, ornithuromorph, gastornithid, ornithocheirid, ornithopodan.

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