Laevisuchus

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Laevisuchus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 70Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Clade: Theropoda
Clade: †Abelisauria
Family: †Noasauridae
Genus: †Laevisuchus
Species: † L. indicus
Binomial name
Laevisuchus indicus
Huene & Matley, 1933

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. All remains except GSI K27/696 were lost; GSI K20/613 was rediscovered in 2012.

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]

References

  1. ↑ 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
  2. ↑ Lambert, D. (1998). The Wordsworth Book of Dinosaurs, Britain: Mackays of Chatham PLC.
  3. ↑ Tykoski, R.S. & Rowe, T. (2004). "Ceratosauria". In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., & Osmolska, H. (Eds.) The Dinosauria (2nd edition). Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 47–70 ISBN 0-520-24209-2
  4. ↑ 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

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