Procompsognathus
Name:
Procompsognathus
(Before elegant jaw - a reference to the genus Compsognathus).
Phonetic: Pro-comp-sog-nay-fuss.
Named By: Eberhaad Fraas - 1913.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Theropoda, Coelophysidae.
Species: P. triassicus
(type).
Diet: Insectivore/Carnivore.
Size: Estimated about 1 meter long.
Known locations: Germany, Baden-Wurttemberg -
Lowenstein Formation.
Time period: Norian of the Triassic.
Fossil representation: Fragmentary skeleton.
Procompsognathus
has often been recreated in popular science work about dinosaurs where
it is usually depicted as a very small bipedal theropod dinosaur.
However since the initial description of the holotype fossils,
further specimens have been referred to the genus, though these are
controversial fossils that are widely seen as not belonging to
Procompsognathus.
SMNS
12352 (partial skull and lower jaws) and SMNS 12352a (a left
hand) were assigned to Procompsognathus by
Frederich von Huene in
1921. First in 1982 John Ostrom claimed that both of these are
of different creatures. In 1992, Rupert Wild and Paul Sereno even
challenged the holotype remains saying that the skull and post cranial
remains did not belong to the same dinosaur. They considered the post
cranial remains to be of a dinosaur while the skull was of a
crocodylomorph called Saltoposuchus,
however a late study by Sankar
Chatterjee refuted this by saying the skull was not of a
crocodylomorph. SMNS 12352 and SMNS 12352 meanwhile have both
been interpreted as being crocodylomorphs, with SMNS 12352a being
possibly just archosaurian (Knoll, 2006 & 2008). In
2012 a CAT scan of and SMNS 12352a, now relabelled as SMNS
12591a confirmed that it was of a crocodylomorph, but not
Saltoposuchus.
The
future for Procompsognathus is a little uncertain
as while it is
considered a valid genus, it has already proven very difficult to
attribute further remains to it. A final note about the name,
Procompsognathus got its name because it appeared
in the Triassic
before another similar genus of dinosaur named Compsognathus
that lived
in the late Jurassic. This correlation is based around visual
similarity between these two dinosaurs, though it has never been
implied that Procompsognathus was a direct ancestor
to Compsognathus.
Further reading
- Die neuesten Dinosaurierfunde in der schwäbischen Trias [The
newest dinosaur finds in the Swabian Trias], Eberhaad Fraas -
1913.
- Neue Pseudosuchier und Coelurosaurier aus dem württembergischen
Keuper, F. von Huene - 1921.
- Procompsognathus: theropod, "thecodont"
or both?, Paul
C. Sereno & Rupert Wild - 1992.
- Procompsognathus from the Triassic of Germany
is not a
crocodylomorph, S. Chatterjee - 1993.
- Reassessment of the Procompsognathus skull,
S. Chatterjee -
1993.
- The phylogenetic status of Procompsognathus
revisited, D.
Allen - 2004.
- Does Procompsognathus have a head?
Systematics of an enigmatic
Triassic taxon, F. Knoll & R. Schoch - 2006.
- On the Procompsognathus postcranium (Late
Triassic,
Germany), F. Knoll - 2008.
- CT scanning, rapid prototyping and re-examination of a partial
skull of a basal crocodylomorph from the Late Triassic of Germany,
F. Knoll & R. Schoch - 2012.
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