Coelurosauria
| Coelurosaurs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Six exemplar coelurosaurs (top left to bottom right): Tyrannosaurus, Sinosauropteryx, Deinonychus, Archaeopteryx, "Ronaldoraptor", and a house sparrow | |||
| Scientific classification | |||
| Domain: | Eukaryota | ||
| Kingdom: | Animalia | ||
| Phylum: | Chordata | ||
| Clade: | Dinosauria | ||
| Clade: | Saurischia | ||
| Clade: | Theropoda | ||
| Clade: | Avetheropoda | ||
| Clade: | Coelurosauria von Huene, 1914 | ||
| Included taxa | |||
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Coelurosauria (/sɪˌljʊərəˈsɔːri.ə/; from Greek, meaning "hollow-tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs.
Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyrannosauroids, ornithomimosaurs, maniraptorans, and over the recent years, megaraptorans (Although position within the clade is unclear). Maniraptora includes birds, the only known dinosaur group alive today. In the past, Coelurosauria was used to refer to all small theropods, but this classification has since been amended.
Most feathered dinosaurs discovered so far have been coelurosaurs. Philip J. Currie had considered it likely and probable that all coelurosaurs were feathered. However, several skin impressions found for some members of this group show pebbly, scaly skin, indicating that feathers did not completely replace scales in all taxa.