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Compsosuchus

Compsosuchus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 69–66 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
	Vertebra
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	Saurischia
Clade:	Theropoda
Genus:	†Compsosuchus; Huene & Matley, 1933
Species:	†C. solus
Binomial name
	†Compsosuchus solus Matley & Huene, 1933

Extinct genus of dinosaurs

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Compsosuchus (meaning “elegant crocodile”) is a dubious genus of abelisauroid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Lameta Formation of India.

Quick facts Scientific classification, Binomial name …

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Discovery and naming

Compsosuchus was described in 1933 by von Huene and Matley based on remains discovered between 1917 and 1919.^[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 von 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 the Abelisauridae, including Carnotaurus and Indosaurus, necessitating the placement of Compsosuchus as an abelisaurid.^[3]^[4] While a 2011 study classified Compsosuchus as a noasaurid,^[5] a 2024 study identified it as an indeterminate abelisaurid.^[6]

References

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[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]

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[3]

Novas, Fernando; Agnolin, Federico; Bandyopadhyay, Saswati (2004). “Cretaceous theropods from India: A review of specimens described by Huene and Matley (1933)”. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales: 67–103. doi:10.22179/revmacn.6.74. ISSN 1514-5158.
[4]

Molnar, Kurzanov and Dong, 1990. Carnosauria. In Weishampel, Dodson and Osmolska (eds.). The Dinosauria. University of California Press. 169-209.
[5]

Carrano, Matthew T.; Loewen, Mark A.; Sertich, Joseph J. W. (2011). “New materials of Masiakasaurus knopfleri Sampson, Carrano, and Forster, 2001, and implications for the morphology of the Noasauridae (Theropoda:Ceratosauria)”. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (95): 1–53. doi:10.5479/si.00810266.95.1. ISSN 0081-0266.
[6]

Mohabey, D. M.; Samant, B.; Vélez-Rosado, K. I.; Wilson Mantilla, J. A. (2024). “A review of small-bodied theropod dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous of India, with description of new cranial remains of a noasaurid (Theropoda: Abelisauria)”. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. e2288088. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2288088.