Kingdom Animalia Clade Dinosauria Family †Noasauridae Scientific name Compsosuchus solus Rank Genus | Class Reptilia Suborder Theropoda Species †C. solus Phylum Chordata Order Saurischia | |
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Similar Coeluroides, Dryptosauroides, Indosaurus, Laevisuchus, Betasuchus | ||
Not to be confused with Compsognathus.
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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.
Description and classification
The type, and only specimen of Compsosuchus solus is GSI K27/578, an axis with an articulated axial intersection. 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.