Editing Compsognathus (section)

==Discovery and species==
[[File:Compsognathus longipes cast 3.jpg|thumb|left|Joseph Oberndorfer acquired this fossil in Bavaria, Germany, in 1859. Shown here is a cast at the Bavarian State Institute for Paleontology and Historical Geology]]
''Compsognathus'' is known from two almost complete skeletons.<ref name=GSP88>{{cite book |last=Paul |first=Gregory S. |title=Predatory Dinosaurs of the World |year=1988 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-671-61946-6 |chapter=Early Avetheropods |pages=[https://archive.org/details/predatorydinosau00paul/page/297 297–300] |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/predatorydinosau00paul/page/297 }}</ref> The German specimen (specimen number BSP AS I 563) stems from limestone deposits in [[Bavaria]] and was part of the collection of physician and [[Fossil collecting|fossil collector]] Joseph Oberndorfer. Oberndorfer lent the specimen to paleontologist [[Johann Andreas Wagner|Johann A. Wagner]], who published a brief discussion in 1859, where he coined the name ''Compsognathus longipes''.<ref name=wagner1859>{{cite journal | last1 = Wagner | first1 = J. A. | year = 1859 | title = Über einige im lithographischen Schiefer neu aufgefundene Schildkröten und Saurier | journal = Gelehrte Anzeigen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften | volume = 49 | page = 553}}</ref> Wagner did not recognise ''Compsognathus'' as a dinosaur, but instead described it as one of the "most curious forms among the lizards".<ref name=wagner1859/><ref name=ostrom78/> He published a more detailed description in 1861.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Wagner|first=Johann Andreas |year=1861|title= Neue Beiträge zur Kenntnis der urweltlichen Fauna des lithographischen Schiefers; V. ''Compsognathus longipes'' Wagner |journal=Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften |volume=9 |pages=30–38 }}</ref> In 1866, Oberndorfer's collection, including the ''Compsognathus'' specimen, was acquired by the paleontological state collection in [[Munich]].<ref name="goerlich2006"/>

The year of discovery and the exact locality of the German specimen are unknown, possibly because Oberndorfer did not reveal details of the discovery to prevent other collectors from exploiting the locality;<ref name="goerlich2006">{{Cite journal| volume = 24| pages = 1–26| last1 = Göhlich| first1 = Ursula B.| last2 = Tischlinger| first2 = Helmut| last3 = Chiappe| first3 = Luis M.| title = ''Juravenator starki'' (reptilia, theropoda), ein neuer Raubdinosaurier aus dem Oberjura der Südlichen Frankenalb (Süddeutschland)| journal = Archaeopteryx: Jahreszeitschrift der Freunde des Jura-Museums in Eichstätt| date = 2006}}</ref> later authors have suggested that the German specimen was probably discovered during the 1850s. Weathering of the slab on which the fossil is preserved indicates that it was collected from a pile of waste rock left behind by quarrying.<ref name=reisdorf2012/> The specimen either stems from Jachenhausen or the region Riedenburg–Kehlheim.<ref name=reisdorf2012/><ref name="mauser1983">{{cite journal |last=Mäuser |first=M. |year=1983 |title=Neue Gedanken über ''Compsognathus longipes'' WAGNER und dessen Fundort |journal=Erwin Rutte-Festschrift |publisher=Weitenburger Akademie |pages=157–162}}</ref> All possible localities are part of lagoonal deposits of the [[Painten Formation]], and date to the latest part of the late [[Kimmeridgian]] or the earlier part of the early [[Tithonian]].<ref name=reisdorf2012/> In the Jurassic, the region was part of the Solnhofen archipelago. The limestone of the area, the [[Solnhofen limestone]], had been quarried for centuries, and yielded such well-preserved fossils as ''[[Archaeopteryx]]'' with feather impressions and [[pterosaur]]s with imprints of their wing membranes.<ref name=Wellnhofer2008>{{cite book |last=Wellnhofer |first=P. |title=''Archaeopteryx'' — der Urvogel von Solnhofen |year=2008 |publisher=Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-89937-076-8 |chapter=Dinosaurier |page=256}}</ref>

In two publications in 1868 and 1870, [[Thomas Huxley]], a major proponent of [[Charles Darwin]]'s theory of evolution, compared ''Compsognathus'' with ''Archaeopteryx'', which was considered the earliest known bird. Following earlier suggestions by [[Carl Gegenbaur]]<ref name="gegenbaur1863">{{cite journal | last1 = Gegenbaur | first1 = Karl | year = 1863 | title = Vergleichend-anatomische Bemerkungen über das Fußskelet der Vögel | journal = Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und Wissenschaftliche Medicin | volume = 1863 | pages = 450–472 }}</ref> and [[Edward Drinker Cope]],<ref name="cope1867">{{cite journal | last1 = Cope | first1 = Edward Drinker | year = 1867 | title = An account of the extinct reptiles which approached the birds | journal = Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia | volume = 19 | pages = 234–235 }}</ref> Huxley found that ''Archaeopteryx'' was closely similar to ''Compsognathus'', and referred to the latter as a "bird-like reptile". He concluded that [[Origin of birds|birds must have evolved from dinosaurs]], an assessment that established ''Compsognathus'' as one of the most widely known dinosaurs.<ref name="huxley1868">{{cite journal |last= Huxley|first= T.H. |year=1868|title= On the animals which are most nearly intermediate between birds and reptiles |journal=Annals and Magazine of Natural History |volume=2 |pages=66–75}}</ref><ref name="huxley1870b">{{cite wikisource | last1=Huxley | first1=Thomas H. | title=Further Evidence of the Affinity between the Dinosaurian Reptiles and Birds | wslink=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London/Volume 26/Further Evidence of the Affinity between the Dinosaurian Reptiles and Birds | work=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London | volume=26 | year=1870 | doi=10.1144/GSL.JGS.1870.026.01-02.08 | pages=12–31 | firsticon=yes | noicon=yes }}</ref><ref name=ostrom78/> The specimen has since been studied by many prominent paleontologists, including [[Othniel Charles Marsh]], who visited Munich in 1881. The German paleontologist J.G. Baur, who worked as an assistant of Marsh, removed the right ankle from the slab for illustration and study; this removed part got lost since.<ref name=ostrom78/><ref name="ostrom_discovery">{{Cite journal| volume = 13| issue = 1| pages = 31–37| last = Ostrom| first = John H.| title = A surprise from Solnhofen in the Peabody Museum Collections| journal = Discovery| date = 1978}}</ref> Although Baur published a detailed study of the ankle in 1882, which is now the only available source of information of this part of the skeleton, his reconstruction was later found to be inconsistent with corresponding impressions on the slab.<ref name=ostrom78/> [[John Ostrom]] thoroughly described the German specimen as well as the newly discovered French specimen in 1978, making ''Compsognathus'' one of the best-known small theropods at that time.<ref name=ostrom78/> He also concluded that the German specimen likely belongs to an immature individual.<ref name=ostrom78/>

[[File:Compsognathus corallestris = longipes.JPG|thumb|The fossil from Canjuers, France]]
The larger French specimen (Y85R M4M) was discovered in around 1971 in the [[Portland stone|Portlandian]] lithographic limestone of [[Canjuers]] near [[Nice]].<ref name=peyer06/> It dates to the lower Tithonian, as indicated by [[ammonite]] [[index fossil]]s. As Solnhofen, Canjures was famous for its limestone plates, which were quarried and sold under the name "dalles de Provence". The specimen was originally part of a large private fossil collection of Louis Ghirardi, the owner of the Canjures quarries. The collection, including the ''Compsognathus'' specimen, was sold to the [[National Museum of Natural History, France|National Museum of Natural History]] in [[Paris]] in 1983. Alain Bidar and Gérard Thomel, in a brief 1972 description, announced the new find under a separate species, ''Compsognathus corallestris''.<ref name="bidar1972a">{{Cite journal| volume = 275| pages = 2327–2329| last1 = Bidar| first1 = A.| last2 = Demay| first2 = L.| last3 = Thomel| first3 = G.| title = Sur la présence du Dinosaurien Compsognathus dans le Portlandien de Canjures (Var)| journal = Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série D| date = 1972}}</ref> A more comprehensive description followed in the same year.<ref name="Bidar72">{{cite journal |last= Bidar|first= A.|author2=Demay L.|author3=Thomel G. |year=1972|title= ''Compsognathus corallestris'', une nouvelle espèce de dinosaurien théropode du Portlandien de Canjuers (Sud-Est de la France) |journal=Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Nice|volume=1 |pages=9–40}}</ref> According to these authors, the new species differed from the German species in its larger size and modified, flipper-like hand. Ostrom, Jean-Guy Michard and others have since relabeled it as another example of ''Compsognathus longipes''.<ref name=peyer06/><ref name="Michard91">{{cite journal|last=Michard|first=J. G.|year=1991|title=Description du Compsognathus (Saurischia, Theropoda) de Canjuers (Jurassique supérieur du Sud-est de la France), position phylogénétique, relation avec Archaeopteryx et implications sur l'origine théropodienne des oiseaux|journal= Ph.D. Dissertation, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris}}</ref> In 1984, George Callison and Helen Quimby identified the smaller German specimen as a juvenile of the same species.<ref name="CallisonQuimby1984">{{cite journal|last1=Callison|first1=G.|last2=Quimby|first2=H.M.|year=1984|title= Tiny dinosaurs: are they fully grown? |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=3 |pages=200–209|doi=10.1080/02724634.1984.10011975|issue=4|bibcode=1984JVPal...3..200C }}</ref><ref name="Michard91"/>

Collector Heinrich Fischer had originally labeled a partial foot consisting of three metatarsals and a phalanx, from the [[Solnhofen]] area, as belonging to ''Compsognathus longipes''. This identification was rejected by Wilhelm Dames, when he described the specimen for the first time in 1884.<ref name="dames1884">{{cite journal|last=Dames|first=W.B.|year=1884|title=Über Metatarsen eines ''Compsognathus''-ähnlichen Reptils von Solenhofen |journal=Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin| volume=Jahrgang 1884 | pages=179–180 |language=German}}</ref> [[Friedrich von Huene]], in 1925 and 1932, also found that the foot did probably not belong to ''Compsognathus'' itself but to a closely related genus.<ref name="huene1925">{{cite journal|last=von Huene |first=F.R. |year=1925 |title=Eine neue Rekonstruktion von ''Compsognathus longipes''| journal=Zentralblatt für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, Abteilung B |volume=Jahrgang 1925 |number=5 |pages=157–160|language=German}}</ref><ref name="huene1932">{{Cite journal| volume = Ser. 1| issue = 4| pages = 1–361| last = Huene| first = F. von| others = Wolfgang Soergel (ed.)| title = Die fossil Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia, ihre Entwicklung und Geschichte| journal = Monographien zur Geologie und Paläontologie| date = 1932}}</ref>{{rp|336}} Ostrom, in his 1978 monography, questioned the attribution of this fossil to ''Compsognathus'' once more.<ref name=ostrom78/> Jens Zinke, in 1998, assigned forty-nine isolated teeth from the [[Camadas de Guimarota|Guimarota coal mine]] of [[Portugal]] to the genus. Zinke found that these teeth are not identical to those of ''Compsognathus longipes'', having serrations on the front edge, and thus labeled the teeth as ''Compsognathus'' sp. (of unknown species).<ref>{{cite journal|last=Zinke|first=J.|year=1998|title=Small theropod teeth from the Upper Jurassic coal mine of Guimarota (Portugal)|journal=Paläontologische Zeitschrift|volume=72|issue=1–2|pages=179–189|doi=10.1007/bf02987825|bibcode=1998PalZ...72..179Z |s2cid=128803487|url=http://www.schweizerbart.de/pubs/journals/0031-0220/paper/72/179|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927224025/http://www.schweizerbart.de/pubs/journals/0031-0220/paper/72/179|archive-date=September 27, 2007|url-access=subscription}}</ref>