Laevisuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Sauropsida |
Superorder: | Dinosauria |
Order: | Saurischia |
Suborder: | Theropoda |
Superfamily: | Abelisauroidea |
Family: | ?Noasauridae |
Genus: | Laevisuchus Huene & Matley, 1933 |
Species | |
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Laevisuchus ( /ˌlɛvɨˈsjuːkəs/ lee-və-sew-kəs, "light crocodile") is a genus of abelisauroid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous.
Its remains were discovered by Charles Alfred Matley near Jabalpur in Maastrichtian deposits in the Lameta Formation in India, and named and described by paleontologists Friedrich von Huene and Matley in 1933.[1] The type species is Laevisuchus indicus. The generic name is derived from Latin laevis, "light" and the Greek name for the Egyptian crocodile god, Soukhos. The specific name means "Indian" in Latin. It is known only from three cervical vertebrae (GSI K20/613, GSI K20/614 and GSI K27/696) and a dorsal vertebra (GSI K27/588). A holotype was not assigned by von Huene and Matley and a lectotype has never been chosen from the syntypes. Presently all remains except GSI K27/696 are lost.
Laevisuchus was a small bipedal carnivore. It has in 1998 by David Lambert been estimated as being two meters long (6 ft), 0.9 meters high (3 ft), and approximately 30 kilograms in weight (66 lb).[2]
Laevisuchus was originally classified by von Huene as a coelurosaurian coelurid theropod. Recently however, it has been shown to be an abelisauroid dinosaur, perhaps a noasaurid.[3][4]