Compsosuchus

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

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

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 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

^ 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
^ "Compsosuchus". Dinosaurier-Info.De. Archived from the original on 28 December 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
^ 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.
^ Molnar, Kurzanov and Dong, 1990. Carnosauria. In Weishampel, Dodson and Osmolska (eds.). The Dinosauria. University of California Press. 169-209.
^ 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.
^ 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.