Compsosuchus
Compsosuchus (meaning "pretty crocodile") is an extinct genus of noasaurid dinosaur originally classed as an abelisaurian. It lived during the Late Cretaceous in India.
Compsosuchus | |
---|---|
Vertebra | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Family: | †Noasauridae |
Genus: | †Compsosuchus Matley & Huene, 1933 |
Species: | †C. solus |
Binomial name | |
†Compsosuchus solus Matley & Huene, 1933 | |
Discovery and naming
Compsosuchus was described in 1933 by von Huene and Matley.[1] The type species is C. solus, and the type and only specimen is GSI K27/578, an axis with an articulated axial intersection. The genus is often considered a nomen dubium.[2]
Classification
Although classified as an allosaurid by Huene and Matley (1933) and Molnar et al. (1990) because of superficial similarities with the axis vertebrae of Allosaurus, a 2004 review of Lameta Formation theropods found it to be similar to members of Abelisauroidea, including Carnotaurus and Indosaurus, necessitating the placement of Compsosuchus as an abelisauroid.[3][4] It has since been classed in the Noasauridae.
See also
References
- F. v. Huene and C. A. Matley, 1933, "The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the Central Provinces of India", Palaeontologica Indica (New Series), Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 21(1): 1-74
- "Compsosuchus". Dinosaurier-Info.De. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
- F. E. Novas, F. L. Agnolin, and S. Bandyopadhyay, 2004, "Cretaceous theropods from India: a review of specimens described by Huene and Matley (1933)", Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, nuevo serie 6(1): 67-103
- Molnar, Kurzanov and Dong, 1990. Carnosauria. In Weishampel, Dodson and Osmolska (eds.). The Dinosauria. University of California Press. 169-209.