| 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 | |
Compsosuchus (meaning "pretty crocodile") is an extinct genus of noasaurid dinosaur originally classed as an abelisaurian. It lived during the Late Cretaceous in India.
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
- Timeline of ceratosaur research
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.