Coelophysis (Greek for hollow bone), small, meat-eating, early dinosaur that lived in the eastern and southwestern United States in the late Triassic Period about 230 million years ago, is a member of the sub-order theropoda. Coelophysis was a slender, fast moving predator with long jaws filled with curved dagger-like teeth. It grew to a length of up to three meters and probably ran on two legs.

Coelophysis was adopted as the mascot of Aztec Home Schooling International because it is also the state dinosaur of New Mexico. At a site in Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, just north of Santa Fe, a site was uncovered that contains large numbers of fossilized skeletons. It is unusual to find so many meat-eating dinosaur fossils together. Unlike plant eaters, which tended to live and travel in herds, most meat-eaters were solitary or traveled in small packs.