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Dino Codex
CompsognathusAI image
AI imageCreated with GPT Image 2 by OpenAI on Oct 31, 2026

Match with prompt

78% (7/9 items)

Where the image differs from the prompt

  • Hands dangle with claws pointing downShould be: Palms facing each other, not turned down or dangling
  • มือมีกรงเล็บ 3 นิ้วขนาดพอๆ กัน ไม่ใช่นิ้วใหญ่ 2 นิ้วShould be: Small narrow pointed head, short arms with two large fingers, fuzzy filament feathers
See the checklist, prompt and sources
  • ✓Bipedal, back horizontal, tail held straight out off the groundหลังขนานพื้น แต่ชูคอค่อนข้างสูง
  • ✓Mouth closed, lips covering the teeth so none are visible
  • ✕Palms facing each other, not turned down or danglingHands dangle with claws pointing down
  • ✓Three weight-bearing toes on each foot
  • ✓Tiny slender predator about 1 m long with a very long tail, chicken-sized, long thin legs
  • ✕Small narrow pointed head, short arms with two large fingers, fuzzy filament feathersมือมีกรงเล็บ 3 นิ้วขนาดพอๆ กัน ไม่ใช่นิ้วใหญ่ 2 นิ้ว
  • ✓Whole animal visible in side view
  • ✓Scene matches the period and the fossil site
  • ✓No text, people or modern objects

Checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (checked item by item from the image) on Oct 31, 2026. The score is the share of checklist items the image gets right; it is not an expert scientific review.

Prompt used to create the image

Scientifically accurate paleoart of Compsognathus, a carnivore Compsognathidae dinosaur from the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic (about 150 million years ago). Bipedal with the back held roughly horizontal and the tail held straight out behind for balance, never dragging on the ground. NOT standing upright like a kangaroo. Mouth closed with all teeth fully hidden behind scaly lips, like a monitor lizard. NO visible teeth. A tiny, slender predator about 1 meter long including its very long tail, the size of a chicken, with long thin legs. Reference: Compsognathus is a genus of small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. Members of its single species Compsognathus longipes could grow to around the size of a chicken. They lived about 150 million years ago, during the Tithonian age of the late Jurassic period, in what is now Europe. Anatomy: hands held with palms facing each other (not pronated, not palms-down, not dangling); three main weight-bearing toes on each foot; a small, narrow, pointed head, short arms with two large clawed fingers, body covered in short, fuzzy, filament-like feathers as in its close relatives. Full body in side view, whole animal visible, standing in a warm, semi-arid Late Jurassic island in the Solnhofen archipelago of southern Germany, with low conifer shrubs and cycads near a shallow turquoise lagoon, no grass and no flowering plants. Natural history museum illustration style, realistic textures and natural daylight, muted natural colors. No text, no labels, no humans, no modern objects.

Facts in the prompt come from Wikipedia (en) and Paleobiology Database

Compsognathus

Name meaning: From Greek, meaning "pretty jaw".

Carnivore

📏 About 1 m long (mostly tail) and around 3 kg, about the size of a small turkey.

📐 Compare its size with other dinosaurs →

Find it in a game

Compsognathus was a small Late Jurassic predator from Europe. It was light with long, slender legs, built to chase small prey such as lizards and insects.

Fun facts

  • One Compsognathus from Germany has a whole small lizard skeleton in its stomach: its last meal.
  • For a long time it was called the smallest dinosaur, but smaller ones are now known.

Who lived alongside it

Dinosaurs found in the same rock formation as Compsognathus (Alcobaça), so they lived in the same region at roughly the same time.

Formation data from the Paleobiology Database, counting only each genus's main formations. One formation can span hundreds of thousands to millions of years, so this doesn't mean any two of them ever met.

Scientific details

Classification
Theropod (two-legged predators)
Family
Compsognathidae
When it lived
145.06–154.8 million years ago
Geologic stages
Kimmeridgian – Tithonian
Named by
Wagner, 1861
Fossil occurrences
4 sites

Countries with fossils

  • Germany
  • France
  • Portugal

Data from Paleobiology Database and Wikidata