Compsognathus

elegant jaw (pretty jaw)

• kompsos · Greek · elegant, refined, pretty
• gnathos · Greek · jaw

The name combines the Greek words for "elegant" or "refined" and "jaw". It refers to the delicate, slender jaws of this small theropod. It was named by Johann Andreas Wagner in 1859 for a small skeleton from the Solnhofen limestones of Bavaria.

Named by

Wagner

Year named

1859

Period

Late Jurassic

Stage

Tithonian

Found in

Solnhofen Limestone, Bavaria, Germany (a second specimen from Canjuers, southern France)

A small, turkey- to chicken-sized coelurosaurian theropod. The type species is Compsognathus longipes. The French specimen was once named C. corallestris but is now often considered the same species or a separate species of the genus.