Megapnosaurus Temporal range: Early Jurassic,
| |
---|---|
Life restoration | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | Saurischia |
Clade: | Theropoda |
Family: | †Coelophysidae |
Genus: | †Megapnosaurus Ivie et al., 2001 |
Type species | |
†Megapnosaurus rhodesiensis (Raath, 1969) Ivie et al., 2001
| |
Synonyms | |
|
Megapnosaurus (meaning "big dead lizard", from Greek μέγα = "big", ἄπνοος = "not breathing", "dead", σαῦρος = "lizard"[1]) is an extinct genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 188 million years ago during the early part of the Jurassic Period in what is now Africa. The species was a small to medium-sized, lightly built, ground-dwelling, bipedal carnivore, that could grow up to 2.2 m (7.2 ft) long and weigh up to 13 kg (29 lb).
It was originally given the genus name Syntarsus,[2] but that name was later determined to be preoccupied by a beetle.[1] The species was subsequently given a new genus name, Megapnosaurus, by Ivie, Ślipiński & Węgrzynowicz in 2001. Some studies have classified it as a species within the genus Coelophysis,[3] but this interpretation has been challenged by more subsequent studies and the genus Megapnosaurus is now considered valid.[4][5][6]
raath69
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).