Compsosuchus

elegant/graceful crocodile

• kompsos · Greek · elegant, graceful, refined
• soukhos · Greek · crocodile

The name combines the Greek word 'kompsos' (elegant or graceful) with 'soukhos' (crocodile), effectively meaning 'elegant crocodile.' Despite the crocodile reference in the name, it was applied to a theropod dinosaur, not a crocodilian. The 'souchos' suffix was sometimes used loosely in early 20th-century dinosaur nomenclature to refer to large reptiles in general. It was named this way to suggest a slender, graceful form among large predatory reptiles.

Named by

von Huene and Matley

Year named

1933

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Lameta Formation, India

Compsosuchus is a nomen dubium — it is known only from very fragmentary material (cervical vertebrae) from the Lameta Formation of India, described by von Huene and Matley in 1933. It is generally considered to have been a theropod dinosaur, possibly an abelisaurid or a coelurosaur, but the material is too incomplete to assign it confidently to any family. Some researchers have questioned whether it can even be reliably distinguished from other Lameta theropods. Not a crocodilian despite the '-suchus' suffix.