# Compsognathus (Compsognathus longipes) — DinoLand

> Field Journal — free dinosaur encyclopedia: 33 species with photos and video, catalog, ancient world maps (Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Gondwana), quiz, and paleontology glossary.

### id=32: Compsognathus (Compsognathus longipes)

- URL: https://www.dinoland.ai/species.html?lang=en&id=32
- Diet: Carnivore
- Era: Jurassic
- Period: 150 million years ago
- Length: 1,25 m
- Weight: ≈2–3 кг
- Height: 0,4 m
- Speed: до 60 km/h
- Habitat: Isolated carbonate islands and tidal flats
- Region: Europe (Germany, France)
- Discovered: 1859, Joseph Oberndorfer

Fact: “Chicken-sized Jurassic hunter—slender legs and lizard lunches.”

Description: Compsognathus is a small coelurosaur from laminated Solnhofen-equivalent and lagoonal facies of western Europe. Exceptionally elongate distal hind segments correlate with cursorial pursuit of small squamates preserved as abdominal contents. The genus entered paleontology early, shaping Victorian conceptions of dinosaurian stature before giants were unearthed elsewhere.

Features:
  - Total body length near one meter in mature animals
  - Metatarsals are elongate, paralleling modern roadrunners
  - Among the earliest scientifically named non-avian dinosaurs

Related genera: Archaeopteryx, Sinornithoides, Huaxiagnathus


## Citation

Field Journal — Dinosaur Encyclopedia — https://www.dinoland.ai

Web: https://www.dinoland.ai/species.html?lang=en&id=32
Index: https://www.dinoland.ai/llms-en.txt