Megapnosaurus
Sign in to saveMegapnosaurus (meaning "big dead lizard", from Greek μέγα = "big", ἄπνοος = "not breathing", "dead", σαῦρος = "lizard") 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 long and weigh up to .
Wikidata facts
- Parent taxon
- Coelophysoidea
- Image
- Megapnosaurus DB.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- Commons category
- Megapnosaurus
- taxon name
- Megapnosaurus
- taxon rank
- genus
- taxon synonym
- Coelophysis
- time period
- Early Jurassic
Sources (1)
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Encyclopedic overview
13 sectionsContents
- Discovery and history
- Possible & reclassified ''Megapnosaurus'' remains
- Description
- Classification
- Paleoecology
- Provenance and occurrence
- Fauna and habitat
- Paleobiology
- Growth
- Feeding and diet
- Paleopathology
- Ichnology
- References
Megapnosaurus (meaning "big dead lizard", from Greek μέγα = "big", ἄπνοος = "not breathing", "dead", σαῦρος = "lizard") 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 long and weigh up to .
It was originally given the genus name Syntarsus, but that name was later determined to be preoccupied by a beetle. 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, but this interpretation has been challenged by more subsequent studies and the genus Megapnosaurus is now considered valid.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Megapnosaurus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.