What is Compsognathus?
{{taxobox | box_width = 250px | name = ''Compsognathus'' | fossil_range = [[Upper Jurassic]] | image = Compsognathus longipes head.jpg | image_width = 250px | image_caption = ''Compsognathus''<br/>[[Oxford University]] Museum of Natural History<br/>note the narrow [[skull]] and long [[wikt:snout|snout]]. | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Sauropsida]] | superordo = [[Dinosaur]]ia | ordo = [[Saurischia]] | subordo = [[Theropoda]] | unranked_familia = [[Coelurosauria]] | familia = [[Compsognathidae]] | genus = '''''Compsognathus''''' | genus_authority = [[Johann Andreas Wagner|Wagner]], 1859 | subdivision_ranks = [[Species]] | subdivision = '''''C. longipes''''' <small>Wagner, 1859 ([[Type (zoology)|type]])</small> }} [[File:Compsognathus by Nopcsa, 1903.jpg|thumb|right|250px|This 1903 illustration by [[Franz Nopcsa]] shows the gastric content of the German specimen]] [[File:Compy.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Reconstruction of a skeleton, [[Museum of Ancient Life]] – Thanksgiving Point, [[Lehi]], [[Utah]] <br/>Model sculpted by Bruce J. Mohn]] '''''Compsognathus''''' was a small [[carnivorous]] [[theropod]] [[dinosaur]], from the end of the [[Jurassic]] period, around 144 [[million]] years ago. It was about a metre long, and ran on two legs, using its long tail to keep its balance. ''Compsognathus'' is known from two nearly complete specimens, one from [[Germany]] (89&nbsp;cm 35&nbsp;in long), and another from [[France]] (125&nbsp;cm 49&nbsp;in long).<ref name=GSP88>{{cite book |last=Paul |first=G.S. |title=Predatory dinosaurs of the world |url=https://archive.org/details/predatorydinosau00paul |year=1988 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=0-671-61946-2 |chapter=Early Avetheropods |pages=[https://archive.org/details/predatorydinosau00paul/page/297 297]–300 }}</ref> The German specimen was found in the [[Solnhofen limestone]] in [[Bavaria]], over 150 years ago. The larger French specimen (MNHN CNJ 79) was discovered in 1972 in the [[Portland limestone]], near [[Nice]] in southeastern France. Altho