Compsosuchus

Compsosuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 69Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Vertebra
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Suborder:	Theropoda
Clade:	†Abelisauria
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 abelisaurian dinosaur. It lived during the Late Cretaceous. It lived in India.

Naming

Compsosuchus was described in 1933 by von Huene and Matley. The type species is C. solus. The genus is often considered a nomen dubium.^[1]

Description

The type, and only specimen of C. solus, a few neck bones, was discovered in the Lameta Formation. It is based on an axis with an articulated axial intersection. There is one problem, the specimen appears to be lost. This axis resembles that of Allosaurus in the position of the upper pleurocoel, in having a cylindrical axial intersection (rather than tapered) in ventral view, an axial intersection less than twice the length of the axial intersection, and a broad neural canal. These apomorphies are shared with Allosaurus and might mean that Compsosuchus is not an Abelisaur but an Allosaur.^[2]

Classification

Since only a few of its neck bones have been uncovered, not much is known about it. The bones indicate it was a Tetanuran but it is not certain whether it was an Abelisaur or an Allosaur but it was most likely an Abelisaur. Even so, if it was an Allosaur its small size may indicate its type of Dinosaur survived in a different ecological niche.^[1]

References