Coelophysidae

Coelophysidae is a family of early theropod dinosaurs within the superfamily Coelophysoidea, flourishing from the Late Triassic into the Early Jurassic. Its members were geographically widespread, with fossils recovered across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and the group includes such genera as Coelophysis, Procompsognathus, Camposaurus, Powellvenator, and Panguraptor. Coelophysids were slender, lightly built carnivores with narrow skulls and skeletons adapted for speed, making them fast and agile runners. As fairly basal theropods, they retained primitive characteristics such as hollow air sacs in the neck vertebrae and habitual bipedalism. Several members are known from sites preserving numerous individuals together, and some, notably Coelophysis, have been the subject of debated claims of cannibalism.