Checking saved dictionary data and trusted language sources. This will stop automatically if a source does not respond.
Pronunciation varies by accent · noun
(zoology, very rare) Any member of the family †Ornitholestidae, now superseded by family †Compsognathidae..
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).
Aublysodonts and tyrannosaurs appear to have been the culmination of the ornitholestid-allosaur-tyrannosaur group.
Use ornitholestid when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Ornitholestid means (zoology, very rare) Any member of the family †Ornitholestidae, now superseded by family †Compsognathidae..
The closest synonym depends on the sentence and intended sense.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
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).
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.