In 2003, O.W.M. Rauhut, using a cladistic analysis, found Coeluridae to include Coelurus (Late Jurassic, North America), Compsognathus (Late Jurassic, Europe), Sinosauropteryx (Early Cretaceous, Asia) and an unnamed Compsognathus-like form (Early Cretaceous, South America; this dinosaur has since been placed in the new genus Mirischia).
In 2003, O.W.M. Rauhut redefined the family Coeluridae to include Coelurus (Late Jurassic, North America), Compsognathus (Late Jurassic, Europe), Sinosauropteryx (Early Cretaceous, Asia) and an unnamed Compsognathus-like form (Early Cretaceous, South America; this dinosaur has since been placed in the new genus Mirischia).
•
Compsognathids lie at or near the origin of feathers—skin impressions are known from four genera, Compsognathus, Sinosauropteryx, Sinocalliopteryx, and Juravenator.
In 1978 John Ostrom, while reviewing the relations of Compsognathus, concluded that these qualities were best explained by the hypothesis that Herbstosaurus was not a dinosaur but a pterosaur, for which such proportions are normal.
Dinosaur fossils found from the Guimarota Formation include tyrannosauroids such as Aviatyrannis and Stokesosaurus, the ornithopod Phyllodon, and the small coelurosaur Compsognathus.