Editing Compsognathus (section)

==Paleobiology==

[[File:Compsognathus_UDL.png|thumb|Life restoration]]
In a 2001 study conducted by Bruce Rothschild and other paleontologists, nine foot bones referred to ''Compsognathus'' were examined for signs of [[stress fracture]], but none were found.<ref name="rothschild-dino">{{cite journal |last1=Rothschild |first1=B. |last2=Tanke |first2=D. H. |last3=Ford |first3=T. L. |year=2001 |title=Theropod stress fractures and tendon avulsions as a clue to activity |journal=Mesozoic Vertebrate Life |editor-last1=Tanke |editor-first1=D. H. |editor-last2=Carpenter |editor-first2=K. |publisher=Indiana University Press |pages=331–336}}</ref>

===Habitat===
Bidar and colleagues, in their 1972 description of the French specimen, argued that this specimen had webbed hands which would look like flippers in life. This interpretation was based on a supposed impression of the flipper that consists of several undulating wrinkles running parallel to the forelimb on the surface of the slab.<ref name="Bidar72"/> In a 1975 popular book, L. Beverly Halstead depicts the animal as an amphibious dinosaur capable of feeding on aquatic prey and swimming out of reach of larger predators.<ref>{{cite book|last=Halstead |first= L.B.|year=1975|title=The evolution and ecology of the dinosaurs|publisher=Eurobook|isbn =978-0-85654-018-9}}</ref> Ostrom debunked this hypothesis, noting that the forelimb of the French specimen is poorly preserved, and that the wrinkles extend well beyond the skeleton and thus are likely sedimentary structures unrelated to the fossil.<ref name=ostrom78/><ref name=peyer06/>

===Diet===
[[File:Compsognathus by Nopcsa, 1903.jpg|thumb|This 1903 illustration by [[Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás]] shows the gastric content of the German specimen]]
The remains of a lizard in the German specimen's thoracic cavity show that ''Compsognathus'' preyed on small vertebrates.<ref name="Chen"/> Marsh, who examined the specimen in 1881, thought that this small skeleton in the ''Compsognathus'' belly was an embryo, but in 1903, [[Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás|Franz Nopcsa]] concluded that it was a lizard.<ref name="nopcsa1903">{{cite journal |last= Nopcsa|first= Baron F.|year=1903|title= Neues ueber ''Compsognathus'' |journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie |volume=16 |pages=476–494}}</ref> Ostrom identified the remains as belonging to a lizard of the genus ''[[Bavarisaurus]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last= Evans|first= S.E.|year=1994|title= The Solnhofen (Jurassic: Tithonian) lizard genus Bavarisaurus: new skull material and a reinterpretation |journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen |volume=192 |pages=37–52}}</ref> which he concluded was a fast and agile runner owing to its long tail and limb proportions. This in turn led to the conclusion that its predators, ''Compsognathus'', must have had sharp vision and the ability to rapidly accelerate and outrun the lizard.<ref name=ostrom78/> Conrad made the lizard found in the thoracic cavity of the German specimen of ''Compsognathus'' the [[holotype]] of a new species ''[[Schoenesmahl|Schoenesmahl dyspepsia]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|author=Jack L. Conrad |year=2017 |title=A new lizard (Squamata) was the last meal of ''Compsognathus'' (Theropoda: Dinosauria) and is a holotype in a holotype |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=183 |issue= 3|pages= 584–634|doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx055 }}</ref> The lizard is in several pieces, indicating that the ''Compsognathus'' must have dismembered it while restraining it with its hands and teeth, and then swallowed the remains whole; a similar strategy is used by modern predatory birds.<ref name=":0" /> The French specimen's gastric contents consist of unidentified lizards or [[Rhynchocephalia|sphenodontids]].<ref name=peyer06/>

===Possible eggs===
The plate of the German ''Compsognathus'' shows several circular irregularities {{convert|10|mm|abbr=on}} in diameter near the skeletal remains. Peter Griffiths interpreted them as immature eggs in 1993.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Griffiths|first= P.|year=1993|title= The question of ''Compsognathus'' eggs |journal=Revue de Paleobiologie Spec. |volume= 7|pages=85–94}}</ref> However, later researchers have doubted their connection to the genus because they were found outside the body cavity of the animal. A well-preserved fossil of a ''[[Sinosauropteryx]]'', a genus related to ''Compsognathus'', shows two [[oviduct]]s bearing two unlaid eggs. These proportionally larger and less numerous eggs of ''Sinosauropteryx'' cast further doubt on the original identification of the purported ''Compsognathus'' eggs.<ref name="Chen"/> In 1964 German geologist [[Karl Werner Barthel]] had explained the discs as gas bubbles formed in the sediment because of the putrefaction of the carcass.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Barthel | first1 = K.W. | year = 1964 | title = Zur Entstehung der Solnhofener Plattenkalke (unteres Untertithon) | journal = Mitteilungen der Bayerischen Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und historische Geologie | volume = 4 | pages = 7–69 }}</ref>

===Speed===
In 2007, William Sellers and Phillip Manning estimated a maximum speed of {{convert|17.8|m/s|mph}} based on a computer model of the skeleton and muscles.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sellers |first1=William |last2=Manning |first2=Phillip |year=2007 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6127793 |title=Estimating maximum running speeds using evolutionary robotics |journal=Proceedings. Biological Sciences |publisher=The Royal Society |volume=274 |issue=1626 |pages=2711–6 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2007.0846|pmid=17711833 |pmc=2279215 }}</ref> This estimate has been criticized by other scholars.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12524-t-rex-could-catch-a-human-simulations-show/|title=T. rex could catch a human, simulations show|website=New Scientist|date=August 22, 2007|last1=Inman|first1=Mason|access-date=September 29, 2019|archive-date=September 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929195722/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12524-t-rex-could-catch-a-human-simulations-show/|url-status=live}}</ref>